Drawing on the Yellow Pages, the Rolodex and the early internet, web designer Victor Hwang has overhauled Mater — artist Maddie Rose Hills’ research and publishing platform — turning five years of notes and references into a living public archive that now forms the backbone of the whole site. Rather than launching a new URL, the pair chose what amounts to digital recycling. “In architecture, a lot is made from adaptive reuse, and the same should apply for digital things,” Hwang says. “Throwing away a website is like destroying a whole ecosystem that’s built up over years.”
