Welcome! This exhibition started with a simple question. Where do animated gifs come from? The answer is that there were lots of enthusiastic hobbyists experimenting with pixel art in the late nineties. Creating lines, buttons, icons and characters only to share them with the world for free. The scene was especially big in Japan and seems to have peaked in the early 2000's. Once people moved from personal sites to social media profiles, free materials sites have largely disappeared. Some sites still remain online though after all these years, and others have been well preserved by the Internet Archive. The goal of this exhibition is to introduce people to the vibrant pixel art scene, which contrary to the rest of the early internet was a female dominated scene. The focus of this exhibition will be Japanese Sozai creators.
25-06-23: I'm working on expanding the exhibition again after a hiatus! Check back here regularly for new additions to the exhibition.
