Da Bomb, For Real

Contemporary net art consumers likely know The Bomb Project by American artist Joy Garnett as a strapping resource for all things nuclear-related. As it happens, Garnett was not the first artist to focus on the web as a means of organizing nuclear-related images, links, and documentation. Dutch artist Akke Wagenaar has recently re-published her 1995 artwork of the same premise, The Hiroshima Project. Comparing the two one notes that web graphics and aesthetics of 1995 next to those of today are akin to apples and oranges. Furthermore, Wagenaar took a more artistic approach to arranging elements of data using hypertext and animation while Garnett approximates a professional web portal replete with high quality, astonishing images. Moving beyond the formal and engaging with the internal content of these grave projects -- detailed and devastating information -- questions multiply and explode. -- Rachel Greene