Join Rhizome to celebrate the launch of The Art Happens Here: Net Art Anthology. This richly illustrated volume retells the history of net art from the 1980s to the present through thematic essays, interviews, and museum-quality screenshots. The book features a spread for each of the one hundred works that have been restored and are presented as part of Net Art Anthology, an online exhibition that began in 2016 at anthology.rhizome.org. It is published to coincide with the opening of “The Art Happens Here: Net Art’s Archival Poetics,” on view in the New Museum’s Lobby Gallery through May 26, 2019.

Hosted by book editors Michael Connor, Aria Dean, and Dragan Espenschied, the event will feature a lively series of presentations, readings, and performances, including Olia Lialina’s performance Once again I’m sorry, and remember to keep Keeping The Backstreet Pride Alive! (2019), a recital of censored terms from the Chinese internet circa 2008 by Miao Ying, and a demo of the software Heritage Gold (1997) by Graham Harwood. The event will conclude with a rare live appearance by artist Alexei Shulgin’s “cyberpunk rock band” 386 DX—a beige, worn-looking computer that “plays” rock hits by Nirvana and the Sex Pistols on a 40 MHz chip. Advance copies of the book will be available for sale.

New Museum and Rhizome public programs are made possible, in part, through the support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Special thanks to the Roxy Hotel, Tribeca.