A good starting point for a rousing romp through the net begins with the low-tech musings found at flipflopflyin.com. The site contains various oddities that serve up quick and silly animations. Click on "minimoma" and find a tiny version of the museum's contemporary holdings, including a micro-replica of Damien Hirst's "The Physical Impossibilty of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," as well as work by David Hockney, Yves Klein, Dan Flavin, and more.
After a quick tour, retreat back to the menu and view seven episodes starring the pixilated duck "Ralf." In two-three minutes, one can follow a picture-book narrative that leads the lovable fowl to the seaside, the night sky, and the forest--where he encounters a new German pal. The best thing about this site are the list of links, which includes the next site on this list: blackeyed.com.
This site offers a significant contrast to the previous web location, as it operates from a more serious, art-school-student vantage point. Included in the mix is a selection of moody, black and white and color photographs, which capture a range of imagery--everything from an abstract close-up of an insect wing, to a party snapshot. The most intriguing section of the site is an abstract animation entitled "felinesoul." This loop of flash animation exercises the eye muscles through a continual zooming in and out of an abstract form, which ultimately becomes the viewer's Rorschach test.
This site is based in Munich, where the creator, lovingly dubbed "Fruitcake," works as artist and designer. There isn't a lot of conceptual meat here, but as is true with the bulk of the web, the artists featured do not aim to redesign the wheel. Essentially, annegret.de is a cute distraction. Click on "flash experiments," and find the animated game "Mis-match." Here, one can spend time switching body parts of a cast of 'toon characters. With the click of the mouse, a monkey head can be interchanged with the body of a duck, and dressed in a flowery sundress.
Another interesting segment of this site is the "collection of found things," which is a compilation of odd and amusing packaging from around the world. Especially lovely is a kitsch image taken from a package of Turkish shaving cream.
The crème of this crop is the richly layered, graphic powerhouse known as torisukoshiro.com (snapshot above). The pulse of Japanese graphics runs heavy through this site, yet maintains an individual aesthetic and sense of humor. The main attraction is an animated narrative starring the fifth-grader Ume-chan and his canine companion, Leonardo. Clicking on the colored text allows the viewer to follow the trials and tribulations of the young Japanese fellow.
