The File Room
"The File Room" (1994) by Antonio Muntadas is one of the earliest online media art works.
The File Room; webshot
Debuting in 1994, this interactive archive of two millennia of social and cultural censorship chronicles hundreds of cases of perceived censorship, sometimes, but not always, covered in the media or other public forums. It invokes questions about the character of censorship itself and offers a repository, or hidden history, of thwarted personal and communal expression. Any visitor to The File Room may add new cases of censorship to the database by filling out a simple online form. Or search the site by geography, subject matter, medium or time period.
The File Room uses communication technology to construct a database with censorship cases and to make this database available worldwide. The database collects censorship cases by country and gives an historical overview about censorship. The website is linked to online discussion groups and contains original texts from censored publications. It was initiated by Antonio Muntadas and produced by the Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago, an artists' initiative which has grown into a large center for contemporary art.
