One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age
2015-05-27 by librarian
Collection Title:One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age
Identification/URL:http://contemporary-home-computing.org/1tb/
Creator:Olia Lialina & Dragan Espenschied
Abstract:One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age contains a collection of restored Geocities webpages. It is not that easy to find pages that were made in 93-97 and are still online or look the same. Things changed in 2009, when Yahoo announced that they are closing Geocities, number one free hosting service of the last century, “myspace of the 90s”, first home for many web users and a jest for “professional web”. Over half a year period that Yahoo allowed its users to copy their data, Geocities Research Institute (initiated by Olia Lalina and Dragan Espenschied) managed to partly rescue the pages and release one terabyte torrent of it. They not only collect and restore but bring this culture of the 90s back to the web, using contemporary infrastructure. The Tumblr page posts a screenshot of a new Geocities page every 20 minutes since February 2013, while the blog provides a description of the findings. Public Library displays a subcollection from the collection under the heading “What did peeman pee on?”.
Acquisition Information:Courtesy of Geocities Research Institute.
Conditions Governing Access:Freely available online
Biographical/Historical Information:Olia Lialina has, for the past decade, produced many influential works of network-based art: My Boyfriend Came Back from the War (1996), Agatha Appears (1997), First Real Net Art Gallery (1998), and Last Real Net Art Museum (2000). Currently she is a professor at Merz Akademie in Germany. Lialina writes on digital culture, net art and web vernacular. Dragan Espenschied is an internationally acclaimed musician and online artist. He co-founded the home computer band Bodenständig 2000 that toured and released records throughout Europe and the USA. He has also won the Webby Awards People’s Voice NET ART (2004), and the ZKM International Media Art Award (2001). Since 2014, he is leading the Digital Art Conservation Program at Rhizome. Since 2002 Olia and Dragan have worked together. Among their collaborations are Zombie and Mummy (2002-2003), Midnight (2006), and Online News papers (2004, 2008, 2013), Digital Folklore Reader (2009). Individually and as collaborative partners, the work of both artists has been exhibited extensively online and at venues including Ars Electronica, Linz; the New Museum, New York; Havana Biennial, Cuba; ACAF, Alexandria; ABC Gallery, Moscow; ZKM, Karlsruhe.
Subjects:archive, vernecular web, digital folklore, remediation
tags: repertorium