artport: A History of Internet Art at the Whitney Museum

The Whitney Museum opens artport: A History of Internet Art on November 21, 2026, in its 6th-floor galleries. artport is the museum's online space for commissioned net art, launched in 2001, and the show marks its 25th anniversary. It unfolds both online and in the galleries, and includes more than 100 works commissioned specifically for the platform.

The layout follows the three commissioning categories of the artport website. Gate Pages, made between 2001 and 2006, served as portals to artists' own sites. The main Commissions have continued since 2001. Sunrise/Sunset ran from 2009 to 2024 and has been succeeded by On the Hour. In the galleries, an open floor plan gives the impression of floating browser windows, translating online history into physical space.

The participating artists work with code, data visualization, nonlinear narrative, worldbuilding, gaming environments and AI-driven net art. Their projects look at how the internet has reshaped privacy, identity, self-perception and surveillance, and at the blurred line between online and offline life. Taken together, the works treat the internet as both a site and a medium for making art.

The exhibition also includes the world premiere of Human Unreadable Act III by the artist duo Operator. It concludes Human Unreadable, a generative choreography project presented in three acts since 2023, and examines the relationship between body, ambition and technology in a multimedia performance. Performances take place in the Susan and John Hess Family Theater on November 19, 21 and 22, with the November 19 show running 7 to 8:30 pm.

The exhibition is organized by Christiane Paul, Curator of Digital Art, with David Lisbon, Curatorial Assistant, and Colin Brooks, Head of Digital Development. A Member Preview Day takes place on Wednesday, November 18, from 12 to 6 pm. The Whitney is at 99 Gansevoort Street in the West Village.