THE THING

Since its inception THE THING has provided a flexible and supportive venue for developing, presenting and distributing innovative forms of on-line activism, media art and cultural criticism.

THE THING was founded in 1991 and became a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation in September 1998. Prior to that date it was supported entirely by the dedication and enthusiasm of a community of volunteer activists and artists. Even with these limited resources THE THING quickly gained a reputation as a center for new media practice and theory, social forums and on-line art projects.

Initially, in 1991, THE THING took the form of a dial-up bulletin board system (BBS) that facilitated discussion and experimentation, primarily within the New York City arts communities. In 1995 THE THING launched its website http://bbs.thing.net, expanding and intensifying its efforts through initiating individual and collaborative efforts with an extraordinary variety of emerging and established artists.

Over the last three decades, THE THING has played a seminal role not just in fostering a generation of network-oriented activist, artists, critics, and curators, but also - and equally important - searching out ways to interconnect their diverse interests and activities. (2022)

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  The Thing (BBS) circa 1992. Photo: Wolfgang Staehle. [1]

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  Participants in The Thing circa 1993. [2]

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  The Thing (BBS) flyer, c. 1994. [3]

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  The New York office of The Thing circa 1992. Photo: Wolfgang Staehle. [4]

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  The Thing (BBS) circa 1994, featuring artwork by Mariko Mori. Photo: Wolfgang Staehle [5]

Nodes

• The Thing Amsterdam, opened March 1996 by Walter van der Cruijsen
• The Thing Basel, opened September 1995 by Barbara Strebel and Rik Gelles
• The Thing Berlin, opened July 1993 by Ulf Schleth
• The Thing Cologne, opened March 1992 by Michael Krome
• The Thing Düsseldorf, opened November 1992 by Jörg Sasse
• The Thing Frankfurt, opened December 1993 by Andreas Kallfelz
• The Thing Hamburg, 1993-1994, founded by Hans-Joachim Lenger
• The Thing Hamburg, November 2006-2009, founded by the local art association "THE THING HAMBURG"
• The Thing London, founded by Andreas Ruethi
• The Thing New York, opened November 1991 by Wolfgang Staehle
• The Thing Stockholm, opened October 1994 by Magnus Borg
• The Thing Vienna, opened December 1993 by Helmut Mark and Max Kossatz
• The Thing Roma, founded by Marco Deseriis and Giuseppe Marano

Publications

• The Thing. Yellow Reader, November 1992. Print publication with excerpts from online discussions.

• THE THING Itself, eds. Wolfgang Staehle and Jordan Crandall, Autonomedia/Semiotext(e), Fall/Winter 1999. Book/CD-ROM publication with essays (original writing) by contributing writers, excerpts from THE THING’s online forums, as well as art work reproductions originally published by THE THING, covering history of THE THING from 1991 to 1999.

• The Current Thing, eds. Caspar Stracke and Keith Sanborn, New York: The Thing, 2020, 120 pp, PDF.

About THE THING

• Jan Avgikos, "Interview with Wolfgang Staehle", Lacanian Ink 8, 1994.
• Michael Krome, "THE THING Idee und Entwicklung", in Im Zentrum der Peripherie. Kunstvermittlung und Vermittlungskunst in den 90er Jahren, ed. Marius Babias, Dresden: Verlag der Kunst, 1995. [6] (German)
• Dike Blair, "His Thingness: Interview with Wolfgang Staehle", Purple Prose 9, Summer 1995, pp 133-135.
• Barbara Basting, "David gegen Goliath. Ein Besuch beim New Yorker Webprojekt 'The Thing'", c.2000. (German)
• Verena Dauerer, "Ein guter Ruf ist nicht gut genug", Die Tageszeitung, 31 May 2001. (German)
• Inke Arns, Netzkulturen, Hamburg: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 2002, p 52. (German)
• Christiane Paul, Digital Art, London: Thames & Hudson, 2003, p 111.
• Josephine Bosma, "Constructing Media Spaces", in Media Art Net 2, Vienna: Springer, 2005.
• Mark Tribe, Reena Jana, New Media Art, Cologne: Taschen, 2006, pp 22-23.
• Verena Kuni, "Abfall für alle? Einige Gedanken zum Netz als digitalem Archiv der Wissens- und Kulturproduktion", in Literatur und Literaturwissenschaft auf dem Weg zu neuen Medien, eds. Michael Stolz, et al., Bern: Germanistik.ch, Verl. für Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft, 2005. [7] (German)
• Edward A. Shanken, Art and Electronic Media, London: Phaidon, 2009, p 50.
• Joshua Kopstein, "'The Thing' Redialed: how a BBS changed the art world and came back from the dead", The Verge, 15 Mar 2013.
• Susanne Gerber, "Crossing-Over of Art History and Media History in the Times of the Early Internet—with Special Regard to THE THING NYC", in Social Media Archeology and Poetics, ed. Judy Malloy, MIT Press, 2016, pp 309–332. [8]

Links

• Website
• Website (1995)
• Website (1997)
• The Internet Before The Web: Preserving Early Networked Cultures, March 8, 2013 panel discussion at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, featuring archivist and historian Jason Scott, and Wolfgang Staehle founder of The Thing BBS in conversation with Digital Conservator Ben Fino-Radin
• The Thing Is, exhibitions, Berlin, 2022, [9]
• THE THING—Timeline and History, 2016
• Project history 1991-2001
• The Thing at Ars Electronica '95, [10]
• The Thing BBS Message Archive on Rhizome
• The Thing at Net Art Anthology
• https://mailchi.mp/rhizome/phantom-threads-the-thing-bbs-revisited
• Wikipedia