For anyone building projects utilizing GIFs, check out the GIPHY api.

http://api.giphy.com/

Here's another project using GIFs and beat matching:

http://www.seehearparty.com/

Some other cool projects:

http://giphy.com/labs

Many similar GIFs to be found on Giphy:

http://giphy.com/tags/geometry/

http://giphy.com/tags/math/

http://giphy.com/tags/physics/

I'll append Rhizome to this list (thought they were mentioned in the article as they're doing 7on7). They've been at the forefront 'art/tech', 'new media art', 'digital art' et al since 1996. http://rhizome.org

In 2010 Werner Herzog released a documentary about trappers and their families living in the Taiga. It's called "Happy People":

http://www.wernerherzog.com/62.html

I really recommend it. The people survive their arduous living conditions by continually preparing for the next season. They've done the same things more or less for generations, always working, and pretty much cut off from modern civilization. Makes you realize how happiness is a fairly relative value. Their lives are completely defined by the need to survive, and as long as that's accomplished things are good.

FYI - for those trying to find this online: The full docu is about 130 minutes long and has professional English voice overs [1]. There are a few copies on youtube with subtitles, but they are missing about 30-40 minutes.

[1] http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6866374/Happy_People_A_Year_I...

It sounds romantic but their existence seems to be miserable, especially the filth. I'd love to live off the grid for a while as long as there is basic hygiene.

This project emerged out of Rhizome's Seven on Seven conference, which Aaron took part in last year.

http://rhizome.org/sevenonseven/

He was paired up with artist Taryn Simon. It was an elegant project in that it demonstrated how something as fundamental to web interaction as "searching" is actually bound and determined by many cultural and political forces.

You can watch the full presentation here. Very worthwhile.

http://vimeo.com/40651117

Also: http://tarynsimon.com/

Server side includes might be a simple solution for this:

http://joshuajonah.ca/blog/2010/06/18/poor-mans-esi-nginx-ss...

"The transfer speed of our server is limited to 8 kB/s («dial-up» speed)."

I work for a nearly 15 yr old art + technology organization based in an nyc contemporary art museum, and I assure you this type of work is far from a gimmick. There's an extremely rich history here and the art market is taking notice, though it's been a slow process. Many young artists working nowadays make artworks with presumptions born from digital technologies built-in, so by the time you reach your early twenties I hope/imagine the art world in general will have a different material and cultural landscape where art that incorporates digital technology isn't considered niche or a fetish or all lumped together into one category, but considered simply a reflection of the state of the world in which we live.

Honestly, if you're an artist working in ANY medium nowadays you're probably not living solely off the income generated by your artwork. But these skills can certainly contribute to a day job.;)

We have, however, successfully sold or helped sell non-material/purely code-based artworks many times.

Check out this wonderful new book by Casey Reas and Chandler McWilliams for more on the historical context:

http://formandcode.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Form-Code-Design-Architecture-Briefs/d...

And check out Rhizome for a perspective on contemporary digital/new media/internet art.

http://rhizome.org/

Good luck!