1994: First Internet-based work at a musuem

The World’s First Collaborative Sentence, created by Douglas Davis for a survey exhibition of his work in 1994 and donated to the Whitney in 1995, is a “classic” of Internet art. Allowing users to contribute to a never-ending sentence, it anticipated today’s blog environments and ongoing posts. In early 2012 the Whitney Museum undertook a preservation effort spearheaded by Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, Associate Director of Conservation and Research and Christiane Paul, Adjunct Curator of New Media, in concert with Farris Wahbeh, Manager, Cataloguing [sic] and Documentation, and implemented by Ben Fino-Radin, digital conservator at Rhizome, and the Museum’s Digital Media department. The result of the initiative are the two versions of the Sentence accessible here. [more...]