Form Art AI-researched
Alexei Shulgin, 1997
HTML form elements as visual composition
http://www.c3.hu/collection/form/
Visual compositions created entirely from HTML form elements — radio buttons, checkboxes, dropdown menus, scrollbars, and buttons arranged as abstract art. The work uses the browser's native UI rendering as its medium.
“Form Art” (1997) by Alexei Shulgin is a series of visual compositions made entirely from HTML form elements. Radio buttons, checkboxes, dropdown menus, scrollbars, text inputs, and buttons are arranged into abstract patterns and interactive compositions.
The work treats the browser’s native UI widgets as raw material — their shapes, proportions, and behaviors become the elements of a visual language. Because each browser and operating system renders form elements differently, the work looks different in every viewing context. This was intentional: the work exists at the intersection of the HTML source and the browser’s interpretation.
Modern browsers render form elements completely differently from Netscape 3, for which the work was designed. Rhizome’s oldweb.today tool provides period-accurate rendering through browser emulation.