Olia Lialina’s “Vernacular Web 2″
Lialina’s fantastic (and visually gratifying) essay is a great primer to Web 1.0 culture, or as she puts it, “everything that became a subject of mockery by the end of the last century when professional designers arrived, everything that fell out of use and turns up every now and again as the elements of “retro” look in site design or in the works of artists exploring the theme of “digital folklore”: the “Under Construction” signs, outer space backgrounds, MIDI-files, collections of animated web graphics and so on.”
A lot of artists are celebrating and rooting around in the aesthetics of late ’90s internet—all the tacky, garish stuff like starry wallpaper and spinning gifs. Lialina’s essay provides a general base for what they’re working on, touches on why it’s relevant to study, and provides an excellent trip down the memory lane of dial-up.
