Wolfgang Staehle: Untitled
September 2001
Wolfgang Staehle: Untitled
Wolfgang Staehle’s Untitled plays with the vernacular of web design, particularly the conventions of “splash pages”—the introductory teaser screens, often taking the form of sized pop-up windows, that one commonly encountered before homepages in the early phase of the web. Staehle’s Gate Page consists of a collage of animated GIFs that were typical of the graphic language of websites at the time, from the animated “WELCOME TO MY HOMEPAGE” and “New” buttons to flashing arrows or tally counters. Tiny pop-up windows with messages such as “Abandon all art” or an image of the cartoon character Pink Panther keep appearing relentlessly. Combining the commercial aspects of the web with the utilitarian and whimsical, Staehle creates a portrait of the landscape in which net art was embedded and had to situate itself.
Wolfgang Staehle (b. 1950; Stuttgart, Germany) is the founder of THE THING, an independent media project that began in 1991 and became a seminal online and offline forum for net art. Recognized as a pioneer of internet art, his video and new media works have been exhibited worldwide. His Empire 24/7 (1999–2004), a live image of the Empire State Building in New York, was first exhibited at ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany, in net_condition (1999) and subsequently at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, in Loans from the Invisible Museum (2000). He had solo exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (1993) and Morimura Art Museum, Tokyo (1990). His exhibition 2001 at Postmasters Gallery (1984–2025), New York, consisting of three live web transmissions—two in Germany and one in Lower Manhattan—famously captured the attack on and collapse of the World Trade Center in September 2001.
Gate Pages
Every month from March 2001 to February 2006, the Whitney invited an artist or collective to present their work in the form of a “Gate Page” on artport. Each page was meant to function as a portal to the artist’s own sites and projects. The Gate Pages comprise a range of artistic approaches to the format—while some of them are designed as entry points to the respective artist’s website or promote a recently launched work, others take the form of a more complex stand-alone project.
Wherever necessary and possible, these works are made functional through emulation and reconstructions from the Internet Archive. Not all of them have been restored to their original state and their conservation is ongoing. You can also view the original Gate Pages archive to see how they were presented at the time of their creation.
artport
View more on artport, the Whitney Museum's portal to Internet and new media art.