from the birth of the web to the rise of NFTs: phaidon book delves into the realms of internet art

Internet_Art: From the Birth of the Web to the Rise of NFTs

Global publisher Phaidon presents ‘Internet_Art: From the Birth of the Web to the Rise of NFTs,’ an in-depth book in which artist and writer Dr. Omar Kholeif, whose prolific career paralleled the growth of the Internet, tells the story of this mass medium and how it spawned new opportunities for artists, both analog and digital. The publication traces key artists and innovators from the emergence of browser-based art to the beginnings of NFTs, making it a history for the present and the future. Featured in the book are works by renowned artists such as Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Nam June Paik, Heather Phillipson, and Wu Tsang, covering a variety of media.

Catt by Eva and Franco Mattes AKA 0100101110101101.ORG | all images courtesy of Phaidon Press

Since 1989, the birth year of the World Wide Web, the art world has been grappling with the rise of net culture. Phaidon’s book Internet_Art: From the Birth of the Web to the Rise of NFTs surveys the groundbreaking artists who have engaged with the net culture over the past three decades and explores the impact of the Internet on art production and consumption, taking readers on a journey from the first browser-based art to the recent explosion of NFT art.

This unprecedented survey of artists and innovators from 1989 to the present is interwoven with the personal narrative of one of the leaders of the digital world, Dr. Omar Kholeif. Weaving the history of the Internet with his own personal recollections, Kholeif takes readers on a behind-the-scenes journey of an art world grappling with the rise of the online world: from the boardrooms of museums, artists’ studios, and biennials around the globe to cyberspace, the metaverse, and beyond.

Solar Powered LED Circuit Composition 41 (Genzken & Richter) by Haroon Mirza

Orbital Reflector by Trevor Paglen

Positive Ambiguity by DIS

the cover of ‘Internet_Art: From the Birth of the Web to the Rise of NFTs’

project info: 

book title: Internet_Art: From the Birth of the Web to the Rise of NFTs

author: Dr. Omar Kholeif

pre-order: Phaidon

publication date: 26 April, 2023
price: £29.95 (€34.95)