Search History: a virtual art exhibition
About this activity.
Search History (www.willow-art.space/search_history)is an interactive art exhibition organised by the Groningen-based foundation WILLOW Online Art Space. The virtual exhibition explores the challenges of preserving our personal and collective histories of and in the digital world.
If digital technologies have shuttered our idea of the permanent and structured library archive, how do we store and preserve our virtual worlds? And most importantly, can we? Our life is increasingly inhabiting a hybrid territory. The memories we make with our friends and families turn into images and videos synced up on a Cloud; all that we see and save online become a trace of our digital life; what we share online is part of our culture as much as famous paintings in museums are. But are these online places as permanent as we think they are? Digital information is nomadic, it escapes our efforts to lock it in a permanent archive. By the time the backup is over the drive is already old. We sometimes search for a remote URL in our search history and encounter: ‘not found’. But not lost. How can we reimagine the digital archive?
During a three-month residency, WILLOW invited five emerging artists - Michiel Teeuw, Fadi Houmani, Ster Borgman, Sojung Lee, Siem de Boer,- to explore these questions. Their research and artworks debuted in the virtual exhibition Search History on July 6th 2024 with an event at WEP Groningen. The exhibition, initially scheduled to last three months, has been extended until November 6th! Search History is hosted in a 3D virtual environment freely accessible in one click from our website from any laptop or computer.
From our visitors:
“WILLOW exemplifies an exciting approach to creating and showcasing art in the 21st century.”
“Search History is a game-like art experience on the Internet. You can navigate through a 3D art gallery from your own laptop or computer.”
“An unmissable and incredible experience created by emerging artists and people who love what they do!”
“A full online art exhibition accessible for free!”
Search History is funded by Kunstraad Groningen, Stimuleringsfonds, Mondriaan Fonds, Cultuurloket DigitALL, Het Cultuurfonds.