in case you haven't already heard, benjamin weil announced yesterday
that ada 'web's corporate parent, digital city inc. (which i think is
owned by aol and tribuneco), has pulled the financial plug and that ada
'web would stop producing new content. apparently, there is a deal in
the works with an as-yet unnamed museum to host the site and use it as
an anchor for a major online presence.

for more information, check out matthew mirapaul's article in today's
new york times on the web:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/cyber/articles/03adaweb.html

this event comes as no surprise: we've been able to see the writing on
the wall for some time now. ada 'web was originally produced by web
partners, an umbrella corporation that also owned total new york and the
spanker. even before web partners was acquired by digital city inc., it
was hard to see the synergy among the various properties.
post-acquisition, it seemed inevitable that the bottom-line oriented
corporate parent would eventually discontinue its support of
contemporary art online. now we see the end of the anomaly–that at one
time ada was able to exist in a curious relationship with an indifferent
corporate presence, like the remora fish clinging to its host.

since starting RHIZOME just over two years ago, i have always seen ada
'web as a complement to RHIZOME. put simply, they produce art on the web
and we talk about it.

it's really too bad the ada crew weren't able to find another way to
sustain operations. they're a very talented and creative team, and their
commitment to their vision was remarkable.