Internet

Ward grew up during the rise and expansion of the internet. The artist conscientiously followed the many web platforms that rapidly sprung up and disappeared, resulting in a large-scale and fragmented presence on the worldwide web. Ward’s various alter egos led to a broad range of blogs, (anonymous) profiles, web shops and promotional pages. He also maintained various websites with his collaborators, as mood boards to collect inspiring images for projects.

Ward had an ambivalent relationship with the internet. On the one hand, the medium signified a fertile soil for his work, and he was able to exhibit and sell online. On the other hand, he found the world wide web too pervasive and commercial.

Ward refused to spend money on an official domain name (see: D.I.Y.). From time to time, he gave up and deleted a profile, only to set a new one up under a different name not long afterwards. He attested to this in the newspaper:

At the same time, the internet was also a medium which allowed him to maintain control over his image towards the outside world. Ward mentioned several times how uncomfortable he felt with the fact that as an artist, there is a certain pattern of expectations:

In cyberspace, he could monitor this image himself, and it was possible to intersperse mysticism and confusion among the facts.

However suspicious he was of the medium, in his own way, Ward was in fact a darling of the internet, who was followed and admired to the distant reaches of the web. His work will undoubtably continue to tumble from board to board.

Boris & Kitchenknife — Carbonmade (shut down) — Cargo Collective — Facebook — Flickr (shut down) — Haas en Gaai — Ik kom van ver, maar blijf niet lang (research) — Instagram — Loloman — Mostly Cola — Musmus Books — Muziek — Sans Soleil (shut down) — Tumblr — Tumblr De wolven van Hazenberg (shut down) — Tumblr Ulvehund (shut down) — Ulvehund — Webwinkel — YouTube

• (47) Je maakt pas iets goeds als je het niet verwacht (‘You only make something good when you’re not expecting it’) — Elien Delaere. De Standaard, 3/6/2017.