This richly illustrated volume retells the history of net art from the 1980s to the present day through thematic essays and interview extracts. It centers around the 100 works selected, restored and presented as part of the Net Art Anthology initiative, which originated as an online exhibition series in 2016 and continues with a touring gallery exhibition from January 2019. Artists featured include Morehshin Allahyari, Cory Arcangel, Shu Lea Cheang, DIS, Constant Dullaart, Cécile B. Evans, exonemo, Cao Fei, Lynn Hershman Leeson, JODI, Oliver Laric, Olia Lialina, Eva & Franco Mattes, Jayson Musson, Paper Rad, Pope.L, Jon Rafman, Rafaël Rozendaal, Wolfgang Staehle, Martine Syms, Ryan Trecartin, UBERMORGEN, Amalia Ulman, Artie Vierkant, Miao Ying and others.
The book and exhibition are the work of Rhizome, the born-digital art organization founded by artist Mark Tribe in 1996. Leveraging more than two decades of experience with net art and digital culture, The Art Happens Here represents Rhizome’s most complete effort to date to contextualize the art forms it champions.
Bringing to life the artistic communities, the surrounding social and political realities, and the changing technological contexts that have shaped artistic uses of the internet over a period of decades, The Art Happens Here features a unique design by Jiminie Ha/With Projects. Intended to function as an “informational object,” the book boasts a chroma-key green cover, “scrolling” text that spills off the top and bottom of the page and wraps around the back cover, and images that ask the reader to rotate the book as they would a smartphone.