First launched on the Reddit platform on April 1, 2017, “r/Place”, or more simply “Place”, is a large collaborative white canvas of 4 million pixels. Halfway between a social experiment and a simple April Fool’s joke, it is seen by many as an ode to pop culture. So much so that its creator, Josh Wardle, calls it a “photograph of the internet at a given time”, a testament to the virtual zeitgeist. In 2017, nearly 90,000 people connected simultaneously for the closing of the collaborative web on April 3 and in total, the adventure brought together more than a million Internet users.
But it is its second edition, in 2022, which will bring it immense popularity, 10.5 million people participating, under the name of “Pixel War”. The 2023 edition was relaunched by Reddit (in partnership with Twitch) on Thursday, July 20, amid a strike by platform users. There is no official end date, but it should last 48 hours like previous editions and therefore end on Saturday July 22.
Based on collaboration, the “Place” is governed by a few rules: each user can color only one pixel every 5 minutes. What exacerbate reflection and group initiatives. If 2017 had been quite messy in terms of the organization of Internet users among themselves, the second edition marked a real turning point in large-scale projects. Communities were organized from the start, recreating famous paintings, film references, flags, memes… Always keeping in mind that all pixels can be covered endlessly.
This nickname was given to the 2022 edition, because it has the particularity of having seen many internet personalities get involved, dragging their huge communities behind them. The artistic dimension is mixed with the “patriotic” one: via the Twitch streaming platform, each influencer led his community, to protect the area dedicated to the national flag or to plan “attacks” on the flags of other countries.
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This 2022 edition had been marked by the great rivalry with France on one side, Spain and the United States on the other. During the 3 days of this “pixel war”, the French community fiercely defended its area illustrated with the French flag, an Arc de Triomphe, a portrait of Zinédine Zidane (who even recorded a video of thanks for the occasion) and Thomas Pesquet.
Regarding the 2023 edition, which does not seem to arouse the same enthusiasm for the moment, astronaut Thomas Pesquet suggested that French Internet users take the opportunity to honor women. A call heard for the moment, since we can discover the portraits of Marie Curie, Marianne, Joséphine Baker, Simone Weil and Sophie Adenot.
I say that ⬇️ I say nothing. Are we honoring a girl this year? �������� https://t.co/J3VV1uVgl7
