wwwwwwwww.jodi.org is a project by JODI (Joan Heemskerk & Dirk Paesmans). This research blog post is a joint work with Mike Zhu.

Net art

Net art should be viewed differently from art presented on the Internet. They not only take the Internet as a display and dissemination channel, but also the artistic component. Net art takes advantage of the network to make it available for more people to connect to the artworks globally and equally. The audience could interact with net art through their own host machine with multimedia art design. Apart from the transmission method, net art might also include "network" itself as a creative intent for innovative storytelling during our current Internet Age.

introduction

wwwwwwwww.jodi.org is a web-based artwork by JODI (Joan Heemskerk & Dirk Paesmans), launched in 1995. This work consists of a maze of webpages that are all written in HTML code. The webpages seem to be hard to comprehend and full of dead ends, but also seem to be full of secrets.

The most infamous secret of this website is the source code of the starting page. The starting page is filled with meaningless green codes on a black background. However, when examining the source code of this page, it will display a diagram of a nuclear bomb.  

How To Interact With this Project?

Intention of this Project

Speaking of the historical context, this project was created during the early days of the World Wide Web and is identified as one of the first pieces of web art. That is to say, people were not familiar with the functionality of webpages at that time. This project started with a mistake: a missing forward slash that caused formatting issues for what was supposed to be a well-drawn diagram.

"With this work, JODI aims to reveal what is often invisible and expose the back side of the internet; its workings, dangers, and possibilities." After JODI figured out this mistake, they decided to keep the effect, finding it interesting. They then changed their emphasis to giving viewers a better insight into the ways a computer system functions, forcing them to view the source code through symbolic tricks or errors.  They also hoped that viewers would focus on the artwork itself, so they did not offer any instructions or explanations for this work.

DIscussion

JODi with reading, historical BG, and analysis

JODI's work has already been included in the reading as an example of how net art explores the concept of expression, privacy, and community inside and outside the network. It shows the "aesthetic aspects of the web’s constructive elements", especially code and hyperlink.

JODI's work appeared when the "Net" itself appeared. We think it takes advantage of people's initial impression on the Internet and the web page, since at the very beginning, the stereotype of "net" should be straightforward, neat, and clear. JODI leverages the web page as a canvas, instead of only a transparent "window" for information transmission. They also use the "source code", which can be seen with F12, to construct a great contradiction between the messy canvas code and regular source code.

Another web feature that has great significance for their artwork is the hyperlink. Clicking on the link with loading and redirecting is also included as an artistic experience. 

In brief, JODI's work makes a pioneering net art form that discovers the flexible artistic elements that could be used in network art design. The essence of coding also attracts attention and explanation from hacker communities.

JODi and CCLab

We think JODI's artwork could be connected to generative art since it employs visually controlled randomness, although they are actually generated with given code and doesn't change after refreshing. You might find repeated patterns as well, reusing designs drawn or code-generated. We can learn from JODI that, apart from coding to create art, we can use code itself as art. In other words, besides the images generated by p5.js, we can pay more attention to the web page design with HTML and CSS innovations.

Individual Conclusion

JODI's net art could be viewed as a genesis of contemporary net art that takes the net components as artistic elements. I felt confused at first sight and did not get the core message they wanted to convey. Then I tried to interact with it myself and found myself curious when different "broken" and "faulty" webpages popped up. It inspired me that for project B, I can put some imperfect components for my own art design as an "alternative highlight" of my overall artwork to attract others' interest.

reference

Benedetta Ricci. Net Art and How The Internet Has Created A New Medium. https://web.archive.org/web/20230315012145/https://magazine.artland.com/agents-of-change-internet-net-art-how-the-world-wide-web-has-affected-the-way-we-make-art/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.

JODI (Joan Heemskerk & Dirk Paesmans) – DIGITAL ART (1960-2000). https://www.digitalcanon.nl/artworks/jodi-joan-heemskerk-dirk-paesmans/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.

JODI’s Lecture at Art+Game, Brussels, 2006. Directed by iMAL Brussels, 2010. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsVygVFYHqM.

%Location | Http://Wwwwwwwww.Jodi.Org. https://wwwwwwwww.jodi.org/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.