A Communal Painting Project Is an Online 'Rebellion'

In one new corner of the internet, users are invited to "paint the world"—and paint they have. Images of Icelandic singer Laufey float over Reykjavík, while tributes for the late Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla surround Corpus Christi, Texas. Squid Game fan art can be found on the outskirts of Seoul, as Walter White's opening monologue from Breaking Bad sits near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Wplace launched July 21, but the artwork is already overwhelming, ranging from simple stick figures and thin-lettered words to highly detailed images that users build under online pseudonyms, reports the AP.

• How it works: New users begin with a small, fixed number of pixels, with more becoming available every 30 seconds. The more you contribute, the more pixels are available to you—sort of "like a leveling system" seen in video games, according to 19-year-old user Moira Hembns.

• Time factor: Even with bigger pools of pixels, it can take a lot of time to bring map paintings to life. "Every art piece takes me hours to design in advance," Hembns notes. One drawing she recently finished took her two days to design outside of Wplace—and then another day to build in it, she said. But Hembns notes that she loves art, and she checks the map and places pixels almost every morning now.
• Content: Much of Wplace's spaces are filled with an endless array of pop culture references, often intertwined with symbols of local and national identity, protest, and other reflections of daily life seen worldwide. Users from around the world also team up to bring larger projects to life.
• Online 'rebellion': "It's wild, and chaotic and crude," says University at Buffalo communications professor Yotam Ophir. That's part of Wplace's appeal, he adds, describing the site as somewhat of a "rebellion" against what the internet has become. "It's not going to break Facebook," he said. "But it's kind of a reminder that things can be done differently."
• Stats: Wplace—developed in Brazil over three months by a single person and now run by a team of 46, in addition to volunteers, per co-founder Enzo Watanabe—has garnered more than 10.6 million users worldwide as of late August.
• Challenges: Watanabe said that the project's growth "exceeded all expectations," though he acknowledged that "adjusting to the high demand has been challenging," including dealing with content moderation. More here on that.