A Microblog on Microsites

Small sites make for big feelings.

Today’s subject: Capitalism.

I think this will make the third blog in a row where I mention the term microsite, something that’s been popping up all over my Instagram feed and seems to be all-the-rage in the DIY web scene. Mailchimp defines microsites as “a website that promotes a company's products, services, campaigns, events, or entire brand.” This is definitely… technically right, but I want to dive into microsites as art rather than as a means to push product.

A screenshot from Maya Man’s shift reality instantly ~ very powerful

As my professional practice turns more and more towards web development, I find myself ever interested in the work of artists like Maya Man and Chia Amisola: the growing appetite for sites-as-art-object marks a really interesting point in digital art I’m about to read a hell of a lot into.

Is it relly a Substack post if it isn’t a soapbox?

An image of Sam Levine’s Rotterdam Risk Score

Sites-as-art represent a shift away from the absolutely inane if not outright assinine commodification of digital files that came on the precipice of the pandemic. NFTs were symptomatic of a growing sentiment of art as something that needs to have worth, and that it’s best enjoyed flaunted to people who don’t have it or can’t afford it. Art and creative endeavors have, at least since Warhol (who can almost be forgiven since he’s the reason for The Velvet Underground), become symbols that bestow a sort of palpable status to art owners and collectors. Likewise, work often languishes between existing as content or a product in order to survive algorithms rapidly turning to brain rot to maintain dwindling attention spans. This is at no fault to artists: marketing ones work, as well as hinging its worth upon its artificial scarcity (a concept that specifically applies to digital art), is how artists can forge a living from their work.

A screencap from Chia Amisola’s net intervention WHEN WE LOVE

Microsites, sites-as-poetry, and even web-based music-making tools are a sign of movement towards a much less commidified direction in art and craft: all you need is a browser to view some of the best, most poingiant pieces of the past year — there’s no entry fee, no inherent Web3 sleaze (on the contrary: Web 1, when things were much less refined and more ad hoc, is the vibe), and, really, not much of a barrier to entry. These are pieces that live and breathe among the community their shared with, not meant to be stuck behind glass and viewed from a distance, but to be explored and felt however a site visitor feels most comfortable. The word radical is thrown around a bit much these days, but web arts and microsites are genuinely a radical form of community-oriented expression in which accessibility is just as important as the process. It’s a really beautiful thing to see.

And that’s all I’ve got to say for this week

Originally, I intended to write about how much I love collaboration, but in the spirit of remaining at least a little mysterious and esoteric, I won’t spoil the upcoming collaborative work that’ll be coming out soon. I will spoil that it involves me making music for the first time in forever.