Photos by Assistant Director of Communications, Lindsey Mancini.
The day after graduation, the School of Art community gathered to celebrate another send-off milestone. The Communications Office hosted a funeral for our beloved website known as "the wiki," because every community member can edit pages and add content. First launched in October 2006 and built by alum and former Graphic Design faculty member, Dan Michaelson, MFA '02, with his studio, Linked by Air, the wiki will officially be retiring this summer after nearly twenty years online.
The subject of much debate and critique, the wiki was recognized in 2007 with an AIGA “365” Award in 2007 and a Jury Award at the 2012 Brno Graphic Design Biennial. A collaborative experiment in digital publishing and information sharing, many of us understood the wiki as a metaphor for art in general: Is it supposed to look pretty? Or is it supposed to challenge expectations? As our relationship to the digital space has changed over the past two decades, we’ve seen the role of websites move from these more local physically-tethered means of information sharing to the digital representation of an institution as a whole.
We heard heartfelt eulogies and reflections on the wiki's significance within the larger landscape of digital historiography, situated within the early web ethos of self-publishing. Many thanks to the students, alums, and faculty—and to special guest Handsome Dan!—who celebrated with us last month. In her remarks, Assistant Dean for Communications and Digital Media, Sarah Stevens-Morling, shared a story from a 2017 all-school conversation on the wiki with other faculty and students. It began with a quote from Lucy Lindsey, Sculpture MFA '17: "I think if someone were to say 'we're redesigning the site,' I would be aghast. Not because I would be losing functionality, but because of what the site represents and says about the school." Sarah continued, "the consensus that day was that the site doesn't always live up to what the school actually is, but it often does represent the beautiful fluidity, fun, and collaborative nature of our community. And that energy is something we're making sure stays a part of art.yale.edu in its next incarnation."
A new Yale School of Art website has been in the works since 2023 and we're excited to bring it online this August!
