ROAMING.COM

“ROAMING.COM” is an experiment in science communication. It is a book-worth of content rendered as an interactive Unity-based computer game. It analyses an iconic work of internet art, namely the artistic web browser “.com” (2001) from the “%WRONG Browser” series by JODI, a prominent duo shaping net art early on. In this game, players explore four rooms and learn about the entangled processes of JODI’s piece of art. These four rooms are equivalent to four chapters in a book. The red room examines the layered design of the user interface. The green room elaborates on the difference in experience between what can be perceived and what is hard-coded. The cyan room analyses instances when (seeming) randomness is adopted either temporally or spatially. The yellow room shows what information can be extracted from the executable file. “ROAMING.COM” is an immersive, multimodal experience that lays out paths of storytelling and offers much to explore. With interactive 3D models, animations, pictures, and text, the player unfolds various argumentations. Breaking down the overwhelming complexity of the investigated case study, the player learns step by step the many facets needed to understand the interplay within the artwork. Digging deep into the piece’s fabric, one can come to surprising, at times counterintuitive, conclusions.