New York-based art and design collective MSCHF recently announced a new project—"ASCII Theater." You can go to the main website and follow the directions to watch full-length ASCII versions of films on your computer, which may or may not be legal. The Verge explains:
MSCHF's director of marketing Matt Steiner told The Verge that the collective plans to keep the ASCII Theater live "until it gets shut down." As for the legality of such a venture, Steiner seemed unsure of that himself: "maybe? idk?" admitted Steiner in an email when contacted by The Verge earlier this month.
The legal murkiness around the ASCII Theater is part of the lure for MSCHF. The internet collective has been served cease-and-desist letters by multiple companies and even sued by the likes of Vans and Nike for having too much fun with copyright law.
"Copyright has always been conceptually productive for us. It's one of the most personally-impacting areas of legal grey area. It's also a place where people experience subverting restrictive systems in casual life," wrote Steiner in an email on Monday afternoon.
The ASCII Theater website describes the project: "Stream free text-based movies in your terminal". The Verge lists some of the films that the site will feature, which include Barbie, Hereditary, Shrek, Pulp Fiction, The Shining, The Lion King, Star Wars, and more. The ASCII Theater website currently states that "Today's Screening" is Mandalorian: The Mines of Mandalore, but also says the Showgirls is "Now Playing," and "Tomorrow" is Goodfellas.
Click here for more information, and to get started. Hurry, before it gets shut down!
