Net art
Wikireuse is a wiki that allows the public to upload stories of the reuse of big box buildings in their community, developing a publicly sourced story of how corporate architecture is recontextualized by communities across the country. The project is a 2007 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from the Jerome Foundation.
In 2003, Julia Christensen began creating a body of work about how communities are reusing abandoned “big box” buildings — the large,free-standing, warehouse-like buildings made prominent by one-stop-shopping corporations like Wal-Mart and Kmart. In 2004, she made a website about the project at www.bigboxreuse.com. “Wikireuse” updated this website, while inviting users to participate in its development. Nodes on a map of the United States catalog big box reuse at geo-coded locations; users can add to the map by sending in information and/or documentation about a reused big box building near them. Articles about big box reuse are also cataloged on the website, so the user can read local accounts in local newspapers from across the country.
Wikireuse was commissioned by Turbulence, with support from the Jerome Foundation