WordPress as a Paintbrush: an Introduction to Internet Art

As we venture into the future, we lean on history. The original Internet Artists, or Net Artists, working in the early 1990s, created artworks using the internet. Before the New York Times got online, artists like Mark Amerika, Olia Lialina, and JODI were using the internet as their artistic medium (demos included). For them, the internet was a new frontier – novel and unexplored. But, this was before WordPress and before most of us were truly aware of the internet and its capabilities. Last year 2021 was a big moment for WordPress. With the full-site editor providing a true no-code experience to website creators everywhere, more people have the opportunity to create online and actively participate in the internet landscape. Everyone can start an internet company and create internet art. But what do we actually do once we rediscover the original Internet Artists? At DigitalCube, we’re using it to drive innovation and experimentation. We’re recreating some of the famous Net Art pieces using today’s technology like Artificial Intelligence (demo included). This year, we’ve also launched a new artist residency program where we invite artists to come and make internet art with us and teach us their creative ways. A renaissance is upon us and its name is WordPress.

Speaker

By Rachel Winchester

Rachel Winchester, or Win for short, is an independent product designer, public speaker, and the founder of the Focus Assistants, a Brooklyn-based startup. Catch her hosting the Philly WordPress Meetup virtually every month, as well as The WWW (Work with Win) Livestream on LinkedIn every week. Win has started Visual Webmaster L.L.C. where she pursues a variety of projects and is always looking to collaborate with other technologists, creatives, and entrepreneurs in innovative ways.

WordCamp Montclair is over. Check out the next edition!