ROAMING.COM
by Mayte Gómez Molina, Daniela Hönigsberg, Yannick Westphal, Jiawen Yao, Inge Hinterwaldner / COSE
ROAMING.COM (2025) is an experiment in science communication. It is a book-worth of content rendered as an interactive Unity-based computer game. It analyses an iconic work of internet art, namely the artistic web browser .com (2001) from the %WRONG Browser series by JODI, a prominent duo shaping net art early on. In this game, players explore four rooms and learn about the entangled processes of JODI’s piece of art. The red room examines the layered design of the user interface. The green room elaborates on the difference in experience between what can be perceived and what is hard-coded. The cyan room analyses instances when (seeming) randomness is adopted either temporally or spatially. The yellow room shows what information can be extracted from the executable file. ROAMING.COM is an immersive, multi-modal experience that lays out paths of storytelling and offers much to explore. With interactive 3D models, animations, pictures, and text, the player unfolds various argumentations. Breaking down the overwhelming complexity of the investigated case study, the player learns step by step the many facets needed to understand the interplay within the artwork. Digging deep into the piece’s fabric, one can come to surprising, at times counterintuitive, conclusions.
This study surpasses features of classical academic studies on various levels. First, it places the arguments recognisably next to the referenced part of the artwork and thus situates references directly within .com. Second, it consists of several informative situations within each room, allowing the player to remember the context in which certain information was encountered (location-based mnemotechnics). Third, the player is always actively engaging in this 3D space, accumulating embodied knowledge as well as coins suitable to unlock the content of the final fifth room.
This academic multi-modal environment focuses on an audience proficient in gaming, exploring virtual spaces with mouse and keyboard. The immersive experience of seeing oneself in built situations, where textual information is given together with a depiction of where it refers to, allows for embodiment and remembering locations. In comparison to a printed book, the amount of text is reduced while the audio-visual information (animations, models, symbols) is increased. There is much to inspect and observe, test, and draw connections far and near.
Our current version v.1.0.0-alpha is available:
Mayte Gómez Molina, Daniela Hönigsberg, Yannick Westphal, Jiawen Yao, Inge Hinterwaldner: ROAMING.COM (v.1.0.0-alpha), 2025, in: Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15195232
This project was realised in 2023-2024 by the entire COSE group. The core group heavily involved from beginning to end was decisive in more or less every part. Thus, it is not satisfactory to restrict group members to specific roles. What we can say is what we were mainly in charge of:
_Mayte Gómez Molina (visual artist, poet): overall lead, 3D modelling, game environment, intro and outro rooms
_Daniela Hönigsberg (art historian, digital humanities): green room
_Jiawen Yao (media designer): cyan room
_Yannick Westphal (artist, programmer): yellow room
_Inge Hinterwaldner (art historian, image studies): red room
Acknowledgement:
We appreciate the great support of
_Andrew DiLallo (artist, game programmer): game programming, interaction design who helped us put the bits and pieces together to a complete experience.
_Special thanks to Emma Dickson, Christina Dürr, and Michael Rottmann who contributed to early stages of the enterprise!
_Very special thanks go to JODI for their support and openness to experiment!
On display:
- 2025, Feb 1-Aug 24: Choose Your Filter!, ZKM Karlsruhe (v. 1.0.0-alpha)
- 2024, Jun 4-13: Campustag, KIT Karlsruhe (demo version)
- 2024, Feb 15-29: Docu & Demo, Collegium Helveticum at ETH Zurich (demo version)
News:
Campus Tag 2025