the place









mainstream media recognition established web art legitimacy

The documented mainstream media coverage of the place was unprecedented for early web art. The New York Times characterization as "a web classic" provided crucial cultural validation during a period when digital art struggled for mainstream recognition. This coverage was complemented by substantial attention from The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Print Magazine, indicating the work's crossover appeal beyond traditional art world boundaries.

The coverage occurred during the critical 1994-2001 period when mainstream media was first grappling with how to contextualize internet-based artistic practices. Print Magazine's inclusion was particularly significant, as it represented recognition within the design and typography community that web-based work could merit serious critical attention alongside traditional graphic design.

academic scholarship positioned the work within digital art history

Academic recognition of the place spans multiple disciplinary frameworks, from art history to digital media studies. The most comprehensive scholarly treatment appears in Megan Driscoll's 2018 UCLA dissertation "Art on the Internet and the Digital Public Sphere, 1994-2003," which examines internet art during the exact period when the place was active. This research applies theoretical frameworks including digital public sphere theory, network theory, and media archaeology to analyze early web art practices.

The work's inclusion in SIGGRAPH 1998 as "Internet Art" provided crucial peer-reviewed academic validation. SIGGRAPH represents one of the premier conferences for computer graphics and interactive techniques, and Squier's "Urban Diary" component was featured in the Electronic Art and Animation Catalog, demonstrating academic recognition of the work's technical and artistic innovation.

Rachel Greene's foundational 2004 book "Internet Art" (Thames & Hudson) contains references to the place as part of the canonical early internet art narrative. Greene's position as Editorial Coordinator at Rhizome and curator at the New Museum provided authoritative scholarly perspective on early internet art practices.

Conference presentations at International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) events in Helsinki (1994) and other international venues established the place within the global academic discourse on electronic art. These presentations, titled "Collaboration: Our Experience with New Technology at the University of Illinois," positioned the work within broader discussions of how artists might function in emerging virtual communities.

 

art world coverage emphasized pioneering technical innovation

Art world reception focused heavily on Squier's pioneering use of NCSA Mosaic browser technology as an artistic medium. Critics noted that he was "one of the few artists in the world currently utilizing NCSA Mosaic as an artistic medium or expressive tool," positioning the work at the forefront of technological art practices.

The art world's attention was amplified by Squier's institutional context at the University of Illinois, birthplace of the NCSA Mosaic browser. This technical infrastructure provided both the tools and the cultural credibility necessary for serious art world consideration of web-based practices during their experimental phase.

Coverage in numerous books on electronic art demonstrates substantial critical engagement within specialist digital art discourse. The work was consistently positioned as part of the first generation of web-based artistic experiments, alongside other pioneering projects from the 1990’s period.

Walker Art Center acquisition marked institutional validation

The Walker Art Center's 2001 acquisition of "The Place" for their permanent collection represents one of the earliest examples of a major museum collecting web-based art. This acquisition occurred under Steve Dietz's leadership of the New Media Initiatives department, which had already acquired äda'web in 1998, establishing the Walker as a pioneer in digital art preservation.

Dietz articulated the institutional significance: "I started a 'Digital Arts Study Collection' at the Walker, initially to host äda'web. In a way, it is a two-edged activity. It is both a face-value recognition of the significance of net art and a museological device." This framework positioned works like the place as "originals" and "objects" in the traditional museological sense, despite their purely digital existence.

The acquisition coincided with broader institutional efforts to address the preservation challenges of ephemeral digital artworks. The Walker's Digital Arts Study Collection became "undoubtedly a role model for other art museums' engagement with digital and online work," amplifying the cultural significance of works like the place within museum collecting practices.



early internet culture archives documented web art evolution

the place occupies a documented position within early internet culture archives as a crucial bridge between traditional fine art practice and emerging digital media. Coverage in early web culture publications and digital magazines from the 1990s positioned the work within broader narratives about how the internet was transforming cultural production and distribution.

The work's technical specifications—using IBM RS6000 servers and networked Macintosh computers—represented cutting-edge infrastructure for artistic practice. Documentation from the University of Illinois collaborative group ad319 shows how the place emerged from institutional efforts to explore "emergent artistic practices" in digital media, supported by substantial grants totaling $76,000 for server and workstation infrastructure.

Early internet art directories and archives consistently listed the place alongside other pioneering projects from the crucial 1994-2001 period when the internet transitioned from academic tool to cultural medium. This positioning established the work's historical significance within digital art culture.

technical innovation garnered design community attention

The technical implementation of the place was revolutionary for combining multiple media formats in a linked, nonlinear structure during the early web period. The project integrated still images, video content, audio elements, and text-based narrative within an interactive framework that explored themes of body and identity in cyberspace.

Squier's artist’s statement reveals the conceptual ambition: "the place will employ the latest in electronic graphics technology while exploring the creative possibilities that reside within the growing society of the internet... These concepts have particular resonance as our culture enters the era of cyberspace, a realm that engenders new relationships between our self-images and our bodies."

The work pioneered the concept of virtual artistic environments, with Squier describing his computer as "more than just a production tool" but "also a distribution instrument" and "an environment, a community, a world." This technical innovation represented an early example of artist-programmers who viewed code as "creative raw material very much like pigment."

contemporary retrospective analysis reveals lasting significance

Current scholarship positions the place as a crucial case study in early internet art innovation. The work's seven-year operational period (1994-2001) coincided with and helped define the early web art movement, making it significant for understanding the evolution of digital artistic practices.

The documented coverage across mainstream media, academic institutions, and art world publications demonstrates how the place served as a testing ground for questions about art's relationship to emerging technologies. The work's persistence through multiple technological transitions—from early NCSA Mosaic through the browser wars to the dot-com boom and bust—provides a unique lens for understanding digital art's institutional evolution.

a foundational work requiring further archival research

The comprehensive documentation of the place across multiple domains establishes its significance as one of the most important early web art projects. While specific detailed quotes from critics and full text of historical reviews remain challenging to access due to digital archive limitations, the breadth of confirmed coverage demonstrates substantial critical engagement across mainstream media, academic scholarship, and institutional recognition.

The work's current residence in the Walker Art Center's permanent collection, combined with its documented coverage in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, and numerous books on electronic art, positions the place as a foundational work in internet art history. Future research should focus on accessing institutional archives at the Walker Art Center, university library newspaper databases, and publisher archives to recover the full text of this crucial early critical discourse about web-based artistic practice.

(coming soon: link to 1998 version of the place)