Type of site | Digital library |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Editor | Kenneth Goldsmith |
| URL | www |
| Commercial | no |
| Registration | none |
| Current status | Online |
UbuWeb is a "a pirate shadow library consisting of hundreds of thousands of freely downloadable avant-garde artifacts." It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives.[1][2] The site was created by poet Kenneth Goldsmith in 1996 to provides web-based educational resources to "a substantial user base." [3] In the book Duchamp is my Lawyer: The Polemics, Pragmatics, and Poetics of UbuWeb, Goldsmith notes that "it’s hard to say exactly who these users are since we don’t keep tabs on them." [4]
In January 2024, UbuWeb announced it was no longer active, posting: "As of 2024, UbuWeb is no longer active. The archive is preserved for perpetuity, in its entirety.".[5] In February 2025 the site resumed its activities, citing the "political changes in America and elsewhere around the world" as a reason to be active again.[6]
- ^ Brogan, Jacob (December 23, 2016). "This Totally Weird, 20-Year-Old Website Collects the Forgotten and the Unfamiliar". Slate Magazine.
- ^ Hope, Cat; Ryan, John Charles (June 19, 2014). Digital Arts: An Introduction to New Media. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781780933238 – via Google Books.
- ^ "About UbuWeb". ubu.com. Retrieved 6 April 2025.
- ^ "About UbuWeb". ubu.com. Retrieved 6 April 2025.
- ^ "UbuWeb". Archived from the original on 2024-01-28.
- ^ Kirn, Peter (2025-02-06). ""All rivers lead to the same ocean": UbuWeb, pirate shadow library, is back". CDM Create Digital Music. Retrieved 2025-02-25.