[Exclusive] Treasure Hunt the Web for GIFed Donuts and Pikachus

Known for her eye-catching and hyper-colored 90s aesthetic universe, Montreal-born but Marseille-based net artist Emilie Gervais is back with PΛЯΚΣD DӨMΛIП GIЯᄂƬӨMBƧƬӨПΣ. Today, she offers an exclusive sneak-peek of her brand new web-based project on The Creators Project.

”I’ve created PΛЯΚΣD DӨMΛIП GIЯᄂƬӨMBƧƬӨПΣ to give a specific & culturally-defined identity to “Parked Domain Girl,” in contrast to the shallowness & emptiness behind the image of the most infamous girl in the history of the internet,” Gervais tells the Creators Project. “I’m giving it diary content. There might be a treasure somewhere. I’m using that identity as a tool. It’s my artist website,” she adds. Her work underlines her well-oiled web searches, a meaningful digital archaeological process, and a strong conection to the history of net art.

Offering an uncanny recreative journey, Gervais’ latest work provides an interactive treasure map created with various means, including HTML, CSS, Javascript, Text Editor, Sublime Text, Firefox, and a bunch of online tools. This map is filled with a medley of net art content but also with a bunch of web 1.0 related items and colorful delights from the internet: floating ghosts, oversized pills, GIFed donuts, My Little Pony, and even a digitized Pikachu to name a few. It’s like a visual Lucky Charms sugar high.

Inspired by Mouchette, Parked Domain Girl, Marilyn Monroe, Tim Berners-Lee, and net art archetypes, this new work not only merges a strong and unique visual signature with a contemporary reflection and interrogation of contemporary gendered representations, but also emphasizes a playful use of internet exploration: “I enjoy getting lost online by browsing for a long time without having a purpose. People tell me that’s an old way of surfing the web, but it’s not. It’s meditation. There is so much magical content all over,” she explains. “My tip for going around 1n73rn37gh3770.space [the URL of PΛЯΚΣD DӨMΛIП GIЯᄂƬӨMBƧƬӨПΣ] would be to do just that: get lost, have no purpose and make space.”

Click here to go on a unique web-based treasure hunt through Emilie Gervais’ self-described #internetghetto. 

Related:

Artists Go URL and IRL for an Evolutionary 3-Day-Long Conversation

A Bonfire of the Digitally-Rendered Vanities

Performative Net Art Or AI Spam? Emilie Gervais’ 8-bit Visuals And Washed Out GIFs [Q&A]