Subject:
                      [Fwd: what is rhizome.org worth to you?]
         Date: 
                      Tue, 08 Feb 2000 01:17:32 +0300
        From: 
                      vadim epstein 
              To: 
                      olialia@cityline.ru



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: what is rhizome.org worth to you?
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 15:14:11 -0500
From: Mark Tribe 
To: eps@here.ru

hi Vadim:

'as an artist working in an international arena, i find that rhizome is
the
only forum that accurately represents the new global environment that
every
print and media source pays lip service to. various epochs spawn social
gathering places where people meet and exchange ideas. in the 1990's
rhizome functions as such a zone.' -gh hovagimyan

i'm writing to ask you to make a gift to rhizome.org. david crawford has
made a special flash intro to help get you in the mood. you'll find it
at
www.rhizome.org/gift

if you don't have flash, you can go straight to www.rhizome.org/support
to
make a secure online credit card contribution. you can also mail checks
to
us at 115 mercer street, 3rd floor, new york ny 10012. or call us at
+1.212.625.3191 to make a pledge.

as a token of our appreciation, we're offering a special kind of premium
for those who make a gift this year: a work of net.art. martin
wattenberg,
the artist and java programmer who collaborated with alex and me on
starrynight, has made a new interface artwork called 'spiral' that
represents the articles in the textbase as galactic timeline. when you
make
a contribution this year, we will send you a special username and
password
so you can access and experience this very cool net.artwork.

when i founded rhizome.org almost four years ago, net art was in its
infancy. today, net art is getting lots of attention, from the whitney
biennial to toy wars. and rhizome.org is growing apace, with web traffic
surging 75% in the month alone. since i returned to rhizome.org
full-time
in april of this year, we've launched several new programs: events at
the
kitchen, the rhizome artbase and starrynight (the first in a series of
reinterpretations of our interface that we're calling rhizome remix).
we've
made several enhancements to our web interface, including xref, email,
print and bookmark features. and we continue to provide our core
services,
which include managing this email list, updating our web site with a new
image and edited text object three times a week and adding new splash
pages.

but despite our recent fundraising success, we need your support in
order
to continue to serve the net art community. for those of you who live in
the united states, it should come as no surprise that, as a nonprofit
organization, we must rely on our members for support. here in the
states,
national public radio counts on listener donations to provide half of
their
budget each year. like national public radio listeners, you receive our
services for free.

those of you who have posted to list@rhizome.org or submitted art
projects
to the artbase have already supported us with your content. but we need
each of you to take the next step and make a financial contribution
according to your means. any contribution is meaningful and makes a
positive impact. if you live in the united states, your contribution
will
be tax-deductible. but not matter where you live, you'll know that
you're
playing a crucial role in keeping rhizome.org alive.

please join me in helping rhizome.org support the net art community by
making a contribution now at www.rhizome.org/gift

sincerely yours,

mark