[cod] ]catfish[

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]References[

There are many references (past and present) that inspired this work. In some of my research for this design document, I was hungry to find some examples of web art that was very heavy on narrative storytelling. Here's what I found from a few different sources:

[My Boyfriend Came Back From the War] by ]Olia Lialina - 1996[

[Click Here for More Info]

This project stood out to me because its layout is a bit similar to the one I'm interested in using, although mine is a bit more collage-based. The style of storytelling also feels a lot more ephemeral than my own, but I can appreciate the artistic choices they made and the desire to tell compelling narratives using HTML. For what its worth, this project was made almost entirely in HTML, which I find very encouraging.

[Brandon] by ]Shu Lea Cheang - 1998[

[Click Here for More Info]

(CW: sexual assault & violence against trans people) While the narrative attached to this particular project is a bit darker than my own, one reason I'm choosing this as a reference is because of the way it disseminates trans narratives. I believe that trans and gnc people express themselves in very expressive and artistic ways on the internet, and since one of the characters in [cod] ]catfish[ is trans, I think Brandon can be a source of inspiration.

[Hypnospace Outlaw] by ]Jay Tholen - 2019[

[Click Here for More Info]

Hypnospace Outlaw is one of my favorite video games ever made. It's not exactly a web browser experience, but rather, a video game simulation of what it's like to be on online during the 90s Geocities era of the internet. It's also one of my favorite examples of narrative storytelling in web art. It takes place in an alternate history of the 90s where people are able to visit the internet while they sleep - which is referred to as "Hypnospace."

[The Black Trans Archive] by ]Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley - 2020[

[Click Here for More Info]

I'm not going to go into much detail about this, because I think visiting the website should be a surprise. However, it's one of the few instances where I felt like someone's use of technology felt spiritual. It calls on ancestry in a way that I find fascinating, and the WebGL graphics are absolutely mesmerizing. It's a project made entirely by black trans artists, and the first entity you meet on the website inspires a lot of ideas behind the Zephyr character that I'm creating.