Reddit has launched the 2023 edition of its famous digital collaborative art project which was introduced for April Fools in 2017.
The collaborative art allowed the users to visit the subreddit r/Place and place a coloured pixelated square on a blank virtual canvas wherever they want. They could place one coloured square every five minutes.
On July 21st 2023, Reddit released another blank canvas for a collaborative art project but the most striking feature of the art is the void.
This article will discuss what is r/Place and the Void.
What Is r/Place?
r/Place is a subreddit launched by Reddit for collaborative digital art project that is created on a large virtual blank canvas.
It was introduced on the day of April Fools in 2017 and was a success with millions of users participating to create the art.
The digital art is created by placing a pixelated square icon on the blank canvas. Every user can place the square once every five minutes.
If your account has a registered mail then you can place the pixelated square in even less time.
You can even override the placed pixelated square to claim your canvas space for the art. This way the dominant communities create the most impressive art.
The result is a canvas full of pixelated squares that shows the creativity of millions of users who participated.
What Is r/Place Void?
The Void in the r/Place subreddit is a massive blotch of black pixelated squares that appears on the digital art created by Reddit users.
The Void is said to be inspired by Mr Incredible attempting to breach the r/Place and spreading slowly to cover the canvas.
But the communities come together to stop the spreading of black pixelated squares.
The main origin of the Void is the Mothervoid and is known for its infamous slogan “Consume Everything, Create Nothing”. The Void is the biggest group of communities by the randoms.
Some of the interesting facts about the Void are listed below.
- The Mothervoid is run by the randoms and a hivemind.
- Mr Incredible’s face is corrupted now because of the Void.
- Every time the canvas expands, the Void starts to appear.
- The Void roughly has 18000 members and 500 active Void makers who place the Void on canvas.
- The maximum strength of active voiders was approximately 2000.
Appearance Of The Void And Its Progress
1. r/Place And The Void In 2017
The Void first appeared in the very first year of the launch of the collaborative art project in the year 2017. However, it was mostly created by the randoms and hivemind.
Although the Void consumed most of the canvas space, it was not a coordinated effort.
2. r/Place And The Void In 2022
The subreddit was launched again in the year 2022 on April Fools Day after the huge success of the first year.
This time Void was created by a group called the swarmers who gained attention for their antagonist approach of spreading the Void on canvas.
3. r/Place And The Void In 2023
Another blank canvas was released on the 21st of July this year and the Void quickly started to spread again despite the sudden announcement of the project.
With the sudden announcement, the void/Swarm is also open for the public to join.
Highlights of the 2023 r/Place
The 2023 edition of r/Place was going smoothly but some users have taken this collaborative project as a means to protest against the changing API changes by Reddit.
The users are very upset about the recent API changes that have led to the closure of various third-party apps.
Another big change is the removal of chat history before this year with little warning which has further riled up the users.
Reddit is also going to close its coin and awards system. As a result, the disappointed users are taking out their anger and frustration on the virtual canvas.
r/Place is a great way for the users to come together and show their creativity on the blank canvas. The Void is like an evil entity that can be stopped by the users by joining together and replacing the dark squares with a coloured squares.
But the current changes in Reddit have also sparked anger among the users and the timing for the r/Place project is odd owing to the significant changes as expressed by the users.
