The image above is served to an eBay listing.
Michael Neff
Unique archival print, signed label, Ethereum L1 NFT
Dimensions variable
eBay functioned as a pivotal anchor during the transition into Web 2.0, a period defined by the democratization of online commerce. Suddenly, the technical barrier of the "webmaster" vanished, allowing anyone to list items for sale. This shift brought a wave of users who utilized hotlinking—often out of a lack of server space or technical knowledge—unknowingly shifting bandwidth expenses onto original hosts. In an era where data transfer had a real cost, these cross-origin embeds created a double-whammy of real cost and breached netiquette.
The architecture of modern AI image generation relies heavily on massive, scraped datasets like ImageNet, a product of that same Web 2.0 peak. As Trevor Paglen notes in How to See Like a Machine, these systems are fundamentally limited by their reliance on categorical nouns. With WYSIWYG, I've intentionally avoided concrete nouns. Every output was generated using the singular prompt "THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN DELETED," providing only an aspect ratio. By centering the work on such an ambiguous phrase, I am pushing the model to reveal its own internal bias—the underlying structural grain of its training data.
The image featured in this description is pulled from a collection of 1,405 files. While 99% are synthetic artifacts of our current AI era, the remaining 1% are authentic relics from the Web 2.0 period—remnants of a time defined by fragile servers and the human use of text-as-image. This project bridges the distance between the early days of eBay and the contemporary mechanics of blind NFT minting. Using custom software on my server, I have automated a cycle where the hotlinked image refreshes every 90 seconds. While the eBay listing remains static, the visual object is in constant flux. If you find a version that resonates, you must act before the server moves on. The only way to track this evolution is through a manual refresh.
In the logic of hotlinking, the initial view is never a guarantee of future stability. Whether caused by a bandwidth dispute, a server prank, or a technical accident, the link is volatile. In this exhibition, that instability is the work.
The image in the description of this eBay listing is fetched when the page loads and never updates afterward. Whatever arrives when the listing is loaded stays on screen while you read, decide, and check out. The server, meanwhile, keeps moving. By the time a purchase completes, the object recorded by the transaction may not be the object you were looking at when you chose to buy it.
The buyer receives the image from the time of transaction as an archival print and an NFT. The buyer and the artist will agree to print medium and dimensions. Upon resale on the secondary market, the original print shall be sent to the new owner. Shipping will be covered by the new owner.
Presented as part of WYSIWYG, an exhibition of artists working with technology and media in ways that reveal how digital ephemera are embodied in material and infrastructure — staged entirely within eBay listings and curated by Dev Harlan.
https://wysiwyg.michaelneff.com