Theyrule.net is neither a game nor a simulation. It is an interactive environment that offers its visitors various modes of engagement with its (non-live) database. At its core, theyrule.net is a graphical user interface revealing the makeup of the board of directors of the top 500 corporations in the United States, allowing users to identify and track America's ruling class. Since many individuals sit on multiple boards of mega-corporations, users can draw elaborate charts detailing the inter-connectedness of the corporations themselves. The intricate web of corporate connections generated by users emulates the polycentric structure characteristic of the Internet. Users may view maps created by other users, create their own maps, and share them with friends via e-mail. Theyrule.net provides its visitors with the necessary means to ponder the existence of vested interests in oligarchic structures.

Mark Lombardi (detail)

Socio-politically engaged art often serves to carry a coherent message to its audiences. Encased in a visually appealing package, the message often contains a call for action, supplemented by the means to promote such action. The ease of dissemination and encouragement of multi-participatory action/community-building that is built into such a work serves to promote the socio-political agenda of its creators. theyrule.net possesses all of these qualities. In essence, it is a conceptual salute to the work of the late Mark Lombardi, whose schematic drawings traced elaborate networks of corporate corruption and criminal conspiracies.

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