Rhizome | Blog Posts tagged "gif"

Total Distortion (2010) - Travis Hallenbeck

John Michael Boling | Thu Feb 17th, 2011 10:21 a.m.

Bg_img

Ceci Moss | Thu Feb 10th, 2011 noon

Bg_img is a publication (and tumblr blog) by artist Paul Flannery. More information below from the project statement:

Bg_img is a series of monthly PDF publications focussing on the images that form the backgrounds and fill the body tags of websites the world over. Once a staple of the web vernacular and the rhythm section of dirtstyle; the onset and proliferation of Search Engine Optimisation, Content Management Systems, page load times, a growing modernist aesthetic and the professional blogosphere has meant that the background image, when present, is an increasingly subtle and rarefied thing. Far from being a nostalgic endeavour however, Bg_img is an attempt to catalogue and celebrate an aesthetic developed independently from received wisdom of page design and order it into a vocabulary that underpins and defines the grammar of internet ornament.

The background image has been fundamental to the development of a style that is unique to the internet. It is a style of gradients, textures and tiled patterns that sit beneath, assimilate and fight for attention with the text, images and other content layered on top; a style developed by digital amateurs restricted by bandwidth and html skills and accelerated by an attention grabbing sense of the mystic and absurd. Over time its use may have become more refined in order to create the impression of an ever more smooth and precious surface, but ultimately, the purpose of the background image remains as it always was – to decorate and embellish a webpage. They are now and always have been a functionless surface modulation, an ornament.

Bg_img presents these ornaments of the internet in all their monolithic glory. Separated from the nuisance of content, they stand proud and naked before you.

Page from the Bg_img Sample PDF

Page from the Bg_img ...

Required Reading: One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age: Digging through the Geocities Torrent by Olia Lialina and Dragan Espenschied

Ceci Moss | Tue Jan 25th, 2011 9:50 a.m.

A new blog by artists Olia Lialina and Dragan Espenschied, One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age: Digging through the Geocities Torrent is an inventory of one terabyte of pages from the now defunct Geocities, proved by the Archive Team.

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#hi11 gifs from Ryder Ripps

Ryder Ripps | Thu Jan 20th, 2011 1 p.m.

Oh hai 11. I made the pilgrimage to LA from NY for 10 days to live in an "orphanage" and help with the Fitch/Trecartin #hi11 New Years Eve party.. I brought with me my tech expertise as well as a keen eye for Subway bread and Croc color pallets. I came back with some gifs and a happy feeling inside. Some highlights bellow, click here to view all.

3d #hi11 txt by Rhet LaRue
Filling up the black light bubble machine
Pole Dancer, Breezelle, in the DIS Room
Elizabeth Dee J-ing
Asma Maroof, of NGUZUNGUZU, on the decks
the floor
the look
Crocs and Locks.. set up by myself and Jonny Mandabach
Ryan and I testing out the green screen, behind us, a feed from the dance floor downstairs.
Head chef, Ryan Riehle, happy about completing over 2011 empanadas.
Ashland (TOTAL FREEDOM) rolling his eyes after a long day on the hi11.

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