Stalking, Shredding, and Streaming: Reading E-Lit Through Artists’ Alternative Web Browsers

Alongside the emergent commercial browsers of the late 1990s, several artists made alternative browsers that articulated other ways of conceptualizing a global network of electronic documents, and stood in relief to the particular electronic textuality manifest in browsers like Netscape Navigator and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer—a hypertext imaginary that still deeply informs the predominant browsers of today. Post presents research into three such works: The Web Stalker (1997) by the artist collective I/O/D, Shredder (1998) by Mark Napier, and netomat (1999) by Maciej Wisniewski. 

Post will draw on interviews with the artists and art historical analytical methods to describe the development, functioning, and long-term impact of these works. In particular, Post considers the ways in which these artists’ browsers can inform the study and practice of electronic literature.