Library of the Printed Web

Steve, Harvey and Matt, (2018) This project — a broadcast, a book, and a download — restores access to 1,964 climate change-related URLs that were removed from EPA.gov on April 28, 2017. The URLs point to web pages, documents, presentations, publications, and other files that were purged by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the direction of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and the Trump administration. Some of the assets had been accessible on the web since 1997.

The April 28 purge redirected hundreds of climate change URLs to one of three new pages: “This page is being updated,”“Complying with President Trump’s Executive Order on Energy Independence,” or the scrubbed “Energy Resources for State, Local, and Tribal Governments.” But many document files (PDFs, PPTs, mp3s, docs) survived the purge and continued to live online, remaining hidden from public view without their corresponding links — until now. Steve, Harvey and Matt, broadcasts the entire collection of climate change URLs ten times each day — a randomized mix of restored access and empty gestures. The 734-page printed book contains EPA emails and spreadsheets that detail the purge, obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests.

Project by Paul Soulellis. Site development by Lukas Eigler-Harding.

Livestream (web) http://epa.archive.work

Livestream (dat) dat://87b5ab52efcecfaba5f69a7b13562696289db7b06440ba9433e07fb20f24af93/ dat://epa.hashbase.io

Printed book http://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-soulellis/steve-harvey-and-matt/paperback/product-23572374.html

Library of the Printed Web, an archive of web-to-print artists’ publications founded by Paul Soulellis in 2013, has been acquired by The Museum of Modern Art Library (@momalibrary).

The mission of Library of the Printed Web is to provide an in-depth view of network culture, artistic practice, and the printed page. The collection is an important resource for the study of print-based experimental publishing in the early 21st century.

Included in MoMA’s acquisition are 244 items by 130 artists publishing in 17 countries: artists’ books, zines, newsprint, loose sheets, folios, prints, postcards, and other materials. A comprehensive catalogue is forthcoming, with contributions by David Senior and Sarah Hamerman of MoMA Library, and artist Sal Randolph.

Library of the Printed Web enters MoMA Library as a self-contained archive that will be preserved in its entirety for years to come. It is now available for institutional loan, and accessible to the general public at the museum’s midtown Manhattan location for viewing and research (by appointment). Many of the works are rare or no longer available. Most are self-published, including handmade, one-of-a-kind, limited editions, as well as print-on-demand works.

Library of the Printed Web was founded by Paul Soulellis in 2013 to investigate web-to-print artistic practice and the increasingly fluid relationship between screen and printed page. It quickly attracted the attention of artists, scholars, and media, and become the subject of exhibitions, workshops, research, and discourse. In 2014, Soulellis began publishing artists’ publications through Library of the Printed Web (Printed Web 1–5 and Printed Web Editions), which are also included in the collection. Soulellis continues to publish, curate, and actively participate in the growth and care of Library of the Printed Web at MoMA.