Richter, Hans. (1965). Dada, art and anti-art. [Translated from the German by David Britt] (Book). New York, H. N. Abrams.

“Dada” was chosen as the name of this early 20th century art movement because its name is nonsense itself: da da – rudimentary phonemes – the babbling of an infant. Dada art reveled in nonsense, thumbing its nose at the prentensions of capital-A “Art”. Net art often takes a similar deconstructive approach to “serious” techno-culture. This book is notable (among many others) because Richter himself was a participant in dada antics.

Armstrong, Elizabeth, and Jon Rothfuss, eds. (1993). In the spirit of Fluxus. (Exhibition catalogue). Minneapolis : Walker Art Center.

The Fluxus movement of 1950-1970s was, like Dada, a playful reaction to a stifled culture.  Central figures included George Maciunas, Ben Vautier, Charlotte Moorman, Nam June Paik, and Yoko Ono (many people are unaware she was an established artist before meeting John Lennon). The recent popularity of mail art (the Post Secret books) owes a great debt to Fluxus, whose mail-order subscription series entitled the purchaser to FluxBoxes containing all manner of random contents. Some net art pieces similarly function as unclassifiable curios of the digital age, and the Dada sense of whimsy remains.

Godfrey, Tony. (1998). Conceptual art. (Book). London : Phaidon.

Conceptual art, in its broadest sense, is art that presents the viewer with the questions, “What is art?” and, “Is this, what you are experiencing now, art?” Godfrey’s book is a well-illustrated survey of conceptual art throughout the 20th century, including strands of thought in sociology, psychology, and media studies that are densely interwoven. Net art is conceptual by its very nature, asking of every new technological development, “Can this be art too?”

Goldberg, RoseLee. (2001). Performance art: from Futurism to the present. (Book). Rev. ed. London : Thames & Hudson.

Performance art arose in the 1970s and is perhaps best defined as live performance plus multimedia. Artists like Eric Bogosian, Karen Finley, Spalding Gray, and especially Laurie Anderson, augmented their stage performances with film, audio, and “special effects” — plus a considerable amount of audience confrontation — to break down the so-called fourth wall between audience and performer. Some works of net art play with audience expectations in a similar manner. Goldberg’s tone is genial and conversational, and the book is richly illustrated and attractively formatted. 

Himanen, Pekka. (2001). The hacker ethic. (Book). 1st ed. New York : Random House.
Also available online.

Net art owes a great deal to hacking, as both often use (or misuse) hardware and software in ways their creators did not intend, leading to unanticipated results. Himanen's book provides an overview of hacking, from its inception among ham radio operators and telephone "phreaks" to the Open Source and Smart Mob movements of today. She notes, "A person can be a hacker without having anything to do with computers"... the same can be true with net artists, when they engage with the philosophical facets of Internet culture.

Chandler, Annmarie, and Norie Neumark, eds. (2005). At a distance: precursors to art and activism on the Internet. (Book). Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press.
Also available online.

This collection of 20 essays by professors, artists, curators and writers amounts to a comprehensive history lesson for anyone who thinks “being on the Internet” is all that net art is about. All of the artistic movements mentioned earlier in this page are touched on, as well as salient sociopolitical movements. Many works of net art are politically motivated to some degree, and some explicitly desire to change culture and society. The reader will likely find some essays more enjoyable and enlightening than others, but such is the nature of any anthology.

Paul, Christiane. (2003). Digital art. (Book). New York : Thames & Hudson.

Generally speaking, “digital art” is a term to be avoided at all costs when seeking information about net art, as 99% of the time it refers exclusively to computer graphics and CGI animation/effects. This book is the rare exception that surveys the broader field including net art, “hacktivism”, architecture, social networking by digital means, and more. The unfortunate choice of title aside, this is a valuable and useful book that places net art in context with other contemporary forms of technological art.