Welcome to the next phase in the Sideroom.com plan for world domination. We’ve been laying low over the past few months, but never fear we’re still going strong. Like mad scientists of the art world we’ve been squirrelling away behind the doors of our creative laboratory, plotting to take over the world and producing our grandest creation yet.
But before we get in to all of that, and to put this into context, let’s take a trip way back in time to the very beginning of everything Sideroom…
Back in 2004 when we were all fresh out of art school and Sideroom.com was an innocent wee fledgling of an idea, we produced our first ever publication, Sideroom.com Journal #1. When we wrote the editorial it was the first time we had really committed our ideas to paper, so for nostalgia’s sake here’s a quote from Sideroom.com Journal #1;
“I think the first time we talked about Sideroom.com was in February 2004 when Alex and I were road tripping around the South Island. In the midst of an idle conversation we started talking about this lifestyle of travelling and how great it would be to utilise the internet and have a completely mobile artistic career based online. To be able to have a little studio somewhere on the west coast of the South Island in the middle of nowhere at the bottom of the world, and be constantly connected to an international artistic network. For the next few months the idea popped up in a few conversations and the more we discussed it and thought it over the more realistic it became. A few months later at Mark’s 21st, I was having a chat with Regan who mentioned he was doing website design. After enduring my drunken spiel on this great idea for a website Regan set to work designing Sideroom.com.”
It wasn’t long before Sideroom.com was launched at the first of what would become a long line of infamous Sideroom.com parties. From that first event things grew pretty fast, and looking back it is amazing how much has happened in four years. We’ve had at least four different incarnations of the website, more crazy parties than I can remember, spent a year in Japan, run an art gallery for two years, produced three issues of Sideroom.com Magazine and even produced 50 episodes of a live to air television show. We’ve done more than we ever could have imagined and what started as a simple idea really has taken on a life and culture of its own.
But for all the crazy adventures and big ideas, it has always been about the website. The vision has always remained the same, and funnily enough I think it is summed up best by another quote from Sideroom.com Journal #1;
“What makes Sideroom.com different is that we exist primarily online, we don’t occupy a physical space. This is why Sideroom.com places so much emphasis on the concept of an online art ‘community.’ It’s not enough to simply have a website that displays images of our art, that’s easy, it’s been done and the fact is it’s boring. Sideroom.com is about more than that; the website is the starting point, a meeting place, and the virtual space we occupy with our ideas. What is really interesting is the community growing around that virtual space.”
So we’ve come full circle, the stars have aligned and we are finally ready to realise our vision. In May 2009 we will close the doors to Sideroom.com Gallery and Creative Space in Kingsland and take the bold step towards a completely online existence. It’s an exciting point in Sideroom.com’s history and signals a big shift in the way we promote and view art that will allow for the potentially unlimited growth of our creative community.
That creative community is YOU! Our dedicated readers, party animals, art supporters and talented friends – without you this beast would never have grown so huge, the adventures of the last four years would never have eventuated and we wouldn’t have made it to the point of launching this site today.
The new site is all about promoting your art and creating a hub for sharing your creative ideas on an international platform. So send us your submissions, keep visiting this space, tell your friends, and let’s take over the world!!
Impressive sticker distribution!