
Opossum.png
by Jeff Thompson (2022)
$315
Purchase
Opossum.png is a book and website created by artist Jeff Thompson that makes physical a single, low-resolution image. In early 1995, a group of strangers assembled online to develop what would become the PNG file format. One of the first images to be encoded in this new format was a pixelated photograph of an opossum, taken by programmer and PNG contributor Glenn Randers-Pehrson. The entire contents of this photograph are presented in a 968-page book, listed in the various formats required to be read by a computer. It also includes a wooden storage case and a printed copy of Randers-Pehrson's photograph. A website accompanies the project, containing a full set of annotations for the file, delving into the technical workings of the PNG format and the people who made it.