Net Art's Fragile Legacy: Rhizome's Archival Battle in the 2020s

The article reflects on the trajectory of net art from its utopian beginnings to its current precarious state, drawing a parallel to the 1962 film 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' to illustrate the cycle of novelty, consumption, and obsolescence. Rhizome, originally an online magazine founded on rhizomatic metaphors from Lacan, Deleuze, and Guattari, pioneered digital art and culture publishing. After financial struggles, it controversially introduced user contributions, sparking protest in the open-source community but eventually gaining acceptance. Now operating under the New Museum in New York, Rhizome is engaged in the painstaking restoration and archiving of early net art works, a task complicated by rapid software changes—comparable to reconstructing frescoes shattered by earthquakes. The archive includes online exhibitions currently accessible only as clips or lectures. The article highlights politically charged net art from recent years, such as Paolo Cirio's exposés of tax havens and Franco and Eva Mattes' VR parodies of conceptual performances. Despite a transformed digital landscape, net art persists, much like the film's protagonist who continues to dance.