FastUbu: An Ultrafast Mirror of the UbuWeb Video Archive

FastUbu is a high-performance mirror of the UbuWeb video archive, designed to provide streamlined and faster access to a vast collection of avant-garde, experimental, and historical video art. By mirroring the content of UbuWeb, FastUbu aims to improve the accessibility and loading speeds of these archival materials for researchers, artists, and enthusiasts.

Extensive Collection of Experimental Cinema

FastUbu hosts a diverse array of experimental films and video works spanning several decades. The archive includes works from renowned avant-garde artists and filmmakers, such as:

• Samuel Beckett: Samuel Beckett at the Riadh Hotel in Nabeul, Tunisia in 1969 (1969)
• Agnès Varda: Black Panthers (1968)
• Nam June Paik: Butterfly (1986)
• Cory Arcangel: f2 (2005), Video Ravingz (2002), and Naptime (2002)
• Mary Ellen Bute: Tarantella (1940) and Dada (1936)
• Joseph Cornell: By Night with Torch and Spear (1942)
• Peter Greenaway: Vertical Features Remake (1978)
• David Wojnarowicz: A Fire in My Belly (1985)

The collection ranges from early 20th-century abstractions (such as Harry Smith's Early Abstractions 1939-1956) to contemporary digital art and net.art projects like those by JODI and Paper Rad.

User Experience and Performance

FastUbu utilizes a modern interface featuring AVIF animations and WebP posters to provide a visual preview of the archival content.

User feedback regarding the site's performance is mixed. Some users describe the interface as "pretty good and snappy," suggesting a smooth browsing experience for many. However, other users have reported significant performance issues on specific hardware, noting that the start page requires downloading approximately 50 megabytes of data due to the size of the AVIF animations (averaging 60kb per animation), which can lead to slow loading times on older or less powerful machines.

"Really slow and not snappy on my machine (i7-8550u). each animation takes ~60kb (avif) - way too much! It needs to download 50 megabytes to show a single startpage."

Project Goal

The primary objective of FastUbu is to serve as an "ultra-fast mirror," reducing the friction associated with accessing the original UbuWeb archive, thereby ensuring that these critical works of experimental cinema remain easily discoverable and viewable.