Windows 98 shipped with a default teal desktop background. When looking at the history of art on the internet, not Gombrich or Greenberg, but early adopting artists who used it as a tool to disseminate their work, one denominator is common – the link offering a desktop wallpaper for download. The desire for a personalised work space is understandable, but more interesting is the opportunity that was sought to embrace a new model of distribution. Webrings and Alta Vista searches meant that anyone interested could see your work. Right-clicking meant anyone could own it. Martin Dace offers the following instructions:
“Apple Mac OSX: save the picture to a folder on your hard disk. If you already have a folder set up for desktop pictures save it there. From the Apple menu select System Preferences and then click on Desktop and Screen Saver. Click on Choose Folder and choose the folder to which you have saved the picture. In the drop-down dialogue pick Center. As they say in Germany, gesagt, getan.
Windows (most versions): right-click on the picture and select Save as Wallpaper. It’s probably as well to save it in another folder also, in case it gets overwritten next time you change your desktop wallpaper. To access the desktop settings, go to the desktop icon in the control panel, which is accessed from the startup menu. Select Center to position the image.”
Wallpaper as pioneering model of distribution
Windows 98 shipped with a default teal desktop background. When looking at the history of art on the internet, not Gombrich or Greenberg, but early adopting artists who used it as a tool to disseminate their work, one denominator is common – the link offering a desktop wallpaper for download. The desire for a personalised work space is understandable, but more interesting is the opportunity that was sought to embrace a new model of distribution. Webrings and Alta Vista searches meant that anyone interested could see your work. Right-clicking meant anyone could own it. Martin Dace offers the following instructions:
“Apple Mac OSX: save the picture to a folder on your hard disk. If you already have a folder set up for desktop pictures save it there. From the Apple menu select System Preferences and then click on Desktop and Screen Saver. Click on Choose Folder and choose the folder to which you have saved the picture. In the drop-down dialogue pick Center. As they say in Germany, gesagt, getan.
Windows (most versions): right-click on the picture and select Save as Wallpaper. It’s probably as well to save it in another folder also, in case it gets overwritten next time you change your desktop wallpaper. To access the desktop settings, go to the desktop icon in the control panel, which is accessed from the startup menu. Select Center to position the image.”