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“They belong together,” Regan says of their wedding of art and technology.

Their shows go up on the web and remain there, including images of openings as well as the artists' works of art.The audience, which continues to wander through their web-sibit (to coin a word for an exhibit on-line) is “inter-generational,” but they also draw crowds against all odds to the area for shows. Thousands of people showed up a a recent show, bringing together artists and art from Andy Warhol’s Factory. What Rent is doing for theater, Audart is trying to do for art: Shaking it by the collar, waking it to the fact that the worldwide web is watching.

They’re setting up tents of artwork in a potentially bland techno wasteland. Audart’s audience mixes Bohemians with business people, and the company deals with multinational companies as well as local businesses and clubs. Even the place is hard to describe, halfway between a spaceship and a cave, a gallery and a happening.

This, in a way, is using the web to help create a scene.  Regan and her partner talk about about all of this as “the salon concept” and plan on bringing in dance, and theater. But whether it’s deliberate or just taste, a lot of the art is tinged with technology. James Warhola’s paintings have a sci-fi feel, like strange, purplish robots staring from the walls or scenes from a child’s dreams: He has illustrated children’s books. And while the web-art wedding seems inevitable the truth of the matter is that this was a natural almost organic growth in response to the Silicon Alley businesses that were coming to Audart’s fantastic opening night exhibition parties.

Of course the gallery and the internet company get email from around the world. (email to audart@pipeline.com)   But that has begun to translate into visits from people who found the gallery on-line first. Their webcasts also, they say have drawn big virtual crowds.

“They walk in everyday,” Regan says. “Sent by a friend.”

Nobody has talked much about the role of the web in tourism, but it has become a huge boon for places off the beaten track such as Audart (even though it’s next to the NY Stock Exchange). And strangely and simply enough, the Wall Street crowd is beginning to discover Audart- both as a gallery and an internet agency. Audart has supported the events of the Alliance for Downtown, which certainly didn’t hurt.

“What they love is the experience of coming in,” Regan says. “It’s always a suprise.”

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