With Levi Asher, Napier collaborated on his first website ("Chicken Wire Mother") and began several experiments with hypertext in which he explored juxtaposing meanings and pop culture symbols.
In 1997, shortly after the Distorted Barbie episode, Napier opened potatoland.org, an online studio for interactive work where he explored software as an art medium with such pieces as Digital Landfill and Internet shredder 1.0 (1998).
Both pieces were included in the seminal "net_condition" show at ZKM in Karlsruhe and attracted critical attention: Shredder was shown at Ars Electronica and Digital Landfill was written up in the Village Voice.
The overriding experience is that the art object is disembodied, existing in many places at once, with many authors contributing to the piece, with many appearances, over time, with no clear end point.
The lines are propelled by the 0 and 1 values from the data, and are mutually attracted to one another, creating a swirling, orbiting dance as the black and white points seek equilibrium.
Still addressing the expression of power in the global network, Napier turns to the Empire State Building as a symbol of nationalism, military and economic might.
The seeming permanence of steel, the formative material of the Industrial Revolution, appears almost quaint as we navigate an environment that is increasingly made of electricity, magnetism and light.
As they comment on the condition of human media in transition, these pieces also upset the conventions of visual art, long dominated by permanent unique objects.
A recipient of grants from Creative Capital, NYFA, and the Greenwall Foundation, Napier has also been commissioned to create artwork for SFMOMA, the Whitney Museum, and the Guggenheim.