Heath Bunting

conference IRONET
Plasy, 1994

Heath Bunting (*1966) is a British artist, living in Bristol whose work straddles various modes of action, documentation and visualisation. He emerged from the 1980s committed to building open/democratic communication systems and social contexts. He came from the street up, passing through and often revisiting graffiti, performance, intervention, pirate radio, fax/mail art and BBS systems to become an active participant in the explosion of the internet. He has produced many internet projects, some highly recognized, and has helped form a strong context for the practice of netart. He has ventured into the field of genetics proclaiming it to be the next »new media«, and is also developing work in the area of physical network performance. His main ambition is to find a way to give it all up and live outside as God intended. 

Best known for his involvement in the formation of the netart movement in the 1990s, his practice may be viewed in alignment with the tendencies of historical movements such as Conceptual Art or the Situationist International. Breaking down the division between art and everyday life, his prioritises information and action. Often performing as an interventionist or prankster and finding form within every day acts of resistance, Bunting's work reaches its public through systems of documentation and distribution including photography, print publishing and the web.

Politically he can be described as an imperial dissident. Aside from this, he is currently training artists in security and both in-door and out-door survival techniques so they can out-live organised crime networks in the coastal forest during the final crisis.

Bunting has been commissioned and exhibited at a range of venues including The InterCommunication Center (ICC), Tokyo; Apex Art, New York; The New Museum, New York, Tate, London; The Banff Centre, Canada; Lovebytes Festival, Sheffield; Art Teleporticia, Moscow; The Arts Council England; Proboscis, London; The Watershed, Bristol and DA2, London, amongst others.

Heath Bunting participated in the conference IRONNET organized in Plasy by Die Fabrikanten in 1994.