Started in 1996 as a listserv by visual artist and curator Mark Tribe, Rhizome has since grown to be one of the world’s preeminent organizations supporting “born-digital art and culture.” Now housed under the umbrella of the New Museum as an affiliate in residence, Rhizome produces commissions, exhibitions, digital preservation initiatives, and other programs—all dedicated to supporting new media art’s history and future.

Once a year, Rhizome also hosts the flagship event Seven on Seven, which pairs seven visual artists with seven technologists and asks them to collaborate around the creation and debut of something new. In the past, participants have co-developed websites, artworks, new technologies, and even formed new businesses. The Creative Independent admires Rhizome’s commitment to new types of artwork and artists, and shares a similar goal of exploring process, collaboration, and what it takes to bring something new to life. This year, in the run-up to Seven on Seven, The Creative Independent will explore these themes and more through conversations with several of the featured participants, which will be published here, as an interview series. We’ll also debut a new TCI Transmission in which the featured Seven on Seven participants will describe their own websites.