Rhizome Vocabulary

Our system of classification consists of terms that artists assign to their work. Artists choose from Rhizome's vocabulary of new media terms as well as adding their own terms. When new terms reach a certain level of popularity they become part of Rhizome's vocabulary.

Below is a cloud of the terms Rhizome makes available for artists when submiting their works to ArtBase. They were formulated when the ArtBase was founded in 1999. The font-size indicates the relative popularity of terms.

Below is a cloud of the top 100 terms used by artists over the last year to describe artworks in the Artbase. The font-size indicates the relative popularity of terms.

Browse the ArtBase by Artist, by Title, by Active Terms, or by Creation Date beta