1999

Artist / Author: Kiran Subbiah

Title : Netscape Escape

Photo: Screengrab

According to New Media Art Historian Charu Maithani, Netscape Escape, written in Flash, by Kiran Subbiah is probably the first net art project made in India. It features a forking narrative, where the visitor is asked to choose different lines of narrative development in a hybrid between a game and a story. The ‘choices’ exercised by the visitor is in some senses an illusion, because there is only one conclusion that all the choices lead up to. But this can also be seen as a commentary on the limitations that bracket free will.

The work still runs on Windows 98

Kiran Subbiah, born in Sidapur, Karnataka, lives in Bengaluru, is a sculptor and multi-media artist.