Swilk’s weavings were programmed

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The finished piece, When you’re looking for something, it’s important to know who was in love, drew on thousands of historic HIV/AIDS documents and web resources in the Archive’s collection — many of which have since been altered or scrubbed off the live web. Swilk’s weavings were programmed with motors to breathe and pulse whenever users interacted with those archived resources on Internet Archive servers.

The idea for the project, like much of Swilk’s work, centers on concepts of home and historic origins.


with motors to breathe and pulse whenever users interacted with those archived resources on Internet Archive servers.

“As a queer person growing up in the Midwest, I found a lot of solace on the internet, and community,” Swilk said. “The more I was able to connect with my own history through content I found on the internet, the more at home I felt.”

In their household, HIV was a very charged subject, and misinformation swirled around, so Swilk turned online for answers.

“The internet was this deeply impactful, incredible resource that was harboring so much information,” Swilk said. “I wanted to make something that highlighted that.”

Swilk said they long wanted to automate their work, and the phone number database Archive provided the appropriate development space to mount motors and technical assistance to make the piece come to life.

“I didn’t know anything about computers,” Swilk said, prior to coming into the Artist in Residence program. “Being able to incorporate mechanization into my art feels like I have a completely new medium to paint with now — and that feels really exciting.”

Swilk credits the team at the Archive (Amir Esfahani, Evan Sirchuk, David Eisenberg) for helping make the exhibit happen.

Artist in Residence Program
The Internet Archive’s Artist in Residency is organized by Amir Saber Esfahani, and is designed to connect artists with the archive’s collections to show what is possible when open access to information meets the arts. Please contact Amir at [email protected] for any inquiries.