The Promise of International Ansi

by hennifer

Ansi art is a medium based around a monthly schedule. Each month, a variety of groups release ansi packs. From month to month, the situation changes, with groups coming and going. It's not often that one sits back and takes a look at the scene over-all. Recently, though, it's become obvious that one thing isn't changing month by month: ansi art is expanding. Never before have we had such a "global market" for ansis. This trend has it's roots long ago (by scene standards). Without knowing it, the few pioneering Euros and Aussies brought about the diversity that may save ansi in the Internet age.

In early 1995, the "good ole" days of ansi art, the scene was held together by a network of bulletin boards, nets, and conferences. Artists from across North America found ever-more-inventive ways of staying in touch. Other parts of the world, though, remained largely unreachable through phreaking, and much too expensive for long-distance calls. Europe, Asia, South America and Australia all lagged behind North America in the development of bulletin boards, and an "art scene" in general. At this time, the Internet was just beginning to grow, and it was also centred in the United States.

As time passed, a select group of artists from Europe and Australia began making headways into ansi art. Bisonours was the first scene-involved ansi artist from France, and marked the beginning of the shift eastward. This was made possible by the expansion of the Internet. Finally artists from across the world could communicate without paying huge long-distance fees.

Ironically, though the Internet paved the way for the expansion of the scene, it also dealt a harsh blow to ansi in North America. As people migrated from bulletin boards to the Internet, the demand for ansis lessened. Fewer North Americans got into the scene, and many of the existing artists either retired or switched to internet-friendly artforms like ascii and vga. This only exentuated the eastward shift taking place.

1996 was the year European ansi art really took off. In a very short period, the European scene expanded from an isolated few, to a huge group of artists. Sweden, Finland, Belgium and Germany were the first countries to begin spawning serious groups of their own. Soon North American artists were shocked by a tracking-gone-ansi group called Fuel. One thing was undeniable: they could draw. In the first effort to merge east and west, Fuel joined Ice, which produced the strange Ice European Division. This hybrid didn't exactly work out.

Inside Europe, Fuel, and other groups like Black Maiden, began to form the kind of communication network that North Americans had in 1994 and 1995. Bulletin boards, with a unique European flair, began to sprout, and scene meets multiplied. Traditional meets like Mekka had serious competition in ansi categories for the first time.

By 1997, the European ansi network was just about complete. Communication extended from Britain to Poland, Spain to Sweden. Artists had popped up in the most unlikely places, even war-torn Yugoslavia. As if taking their cue from the European success, suddenly groups from South America (Brazil in particular) popped up. The odd pack from Russia began to appear. In Australia, where a scene had been slowly growing in relative isolation since 1995, people began to make waves. Force, the veteran Aussie ansi group, had kept tenuous connections with North America through CIA's BlackNet. With the globalization of ansi, Australian artists became well- known and well-respected.

At the present, in mid-1997, the ansi scene in North America is still adjusting to the recent changes. Though there are fewer North American artists today than there were a year ago, new blood is beginning to return. In the meantime, the western ansi scene has been held together by the people who lasted through the years, along with support from our eastern and southern neighbours.

A new breed of group has emerged: those that defy geographical boundaries and time zones. Rarely is there a group today that has only Australian or Swedish artists. Joint ansis travel half the world on the way to completion, and artists from dozens of countries compete together in Internet competitions.

With these new dynamics, global scenesters are ready to tackle the biggest problem facing them today. Ansi must finally move from bulletin boards to the Internet. Some aspect of the "superhighway" must be found that can be improved with ansi graphics. This move is the key to reviving outside interest in the ansi scene. Scenelink is part of this, as well as (hopefully) this article. Remember, with ansi, a month can change everything. Watch out for us.

article and graphic by hennifer