Abstract
In the technological sector, the first development stage of a product is known as ‘Alpha’ phase. The essay posits that techno-industrial culture and the production of technological art have been superimposed to the point where artists are often indistinguishable from commercial entities trying to sell the next hype-laden device. This is also true in the case of intangible on-line art, as market and institutional forces rematerialize net and other forms of screen-based art. The combination of hype and the temporal constraints of development and production result in a milieu where professed claims seldom live up to the final product. The cycle of promotion of the ‘Next Big Thing,’ whether art, data, or consumer object, outstrips any possibility for finished products to keep pace with expectations raised by the ‘Alpha’ and ‘Beta’ prerelease stages. The result is an inordinate degree of media attention focused on ideas that are barely out of conceptual stages or ‘Alpha Revision,’ so that conceptual artists of the informational milieu must become engaged in the high-speed production of concept proposals, or ‘Alpha Revisionist’ works.