287: net.art Pioneer, Olia Lialina
- Diana Varma
- Feb 24
- 2 min read
This episode has been three conversations in the making.
It started in episode #273, when I spoke with Amanda Breeze of TRIPPER Magazine, who mentioned being inspired by George Wylesol’s grown-up choose-your-own-adventure book, 2120. In episode #276, George joined me to talk about the book and how Internet culture and GeoCities websites shape his work. Then, in episode #280, I spoke with Jill Blackmore Evans, creator of GeoCities Memory, a personal and scholarly project archiving standout examples of Web 1.0. She shared how deeply she’s been influenced by Net Artist Olia Lialina.
And that brings us to today’s episode…
Olia Lialina is among the best-known participants in the 1990s net.art scene - an early-days, network-based art pioneer. Her early work had a great impact on recognizing the Internet as a medium for artistic expression and storytelling. This century, her continuous and close attention to Internet architecture, "net.language" and vernacular web - in both artistic and publishing projects - has made her an important voice in contemporary art and new media theory. Lialina is also known for using herself as a GIF model, and is credited with founding one of the earliest web galleries, Art Teleportacia. She is cofounder and keeper of One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age archive and a professor at Merz Akademie in Stuttgart, Germany.
In this conversation, you’ll hear Olia’s origin story as a net artist, cross-pollinating film and Internet technology to tell interactive stories. You’ll hear her approach to capturing and cataloging the early web and how it’s evolved over time, including her long-standing GeoCities project. You’ll hear the surprising connections between interface design and stage design, how AI is changing the Internet and those who shape it, and how we can all reclaim our corners of the web.
Today’s episode ties together what’s come before and sets the stage for what’s still to come. Let’s see where this conversation takes us…
Notable Links:
About Our Guest:
Olia Lialina is among the best-known participants in the 1990s net.art scene - an early-days, network-based art pioneer. Her early work had a great impact on recognizing the Internet as a medium for artistic expression and storytelling. This century, her continuous and close attention to Internet architecture, "net.language" and vernacular web - in both artistic and publishing projects - has made her an important voice in contemporary art and new media theory. Lialina is also known for using herself as a GIF model, and is credited with founding one of the earliest web galleries, Art Teleportacia. She is cofounder and keeper of One Terabyte of Kilobyte Age archive and a professor at Merz Akademie in Stuttgart, Germany.
---
Music:
Rubiks Cube by John Bartmann is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License.
Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle
