A domain name functions as an internet address and identifier, forming part of a URL that points to a specific location online. In the provided context, it is described as more than a technical label: it is a site where ownership, language, and territory intersect. Unlike digital data, which can be copied endlessly, the same domain name cannot be registered twice at the same time. For that reason, domain names are presented as one of the few scarce resources built into the internet.
The context also frames domain names as material for artistic practice and as objects of maintenance. Since the 2000s, Rafaël Rozendaal has assigned one domain to one artwork, treating the URL as the work’s title. When a work is sold, the rights to the domain transfer to the buyer, but the buyer is required to keep the work publicly accessible online. In this model, the act of renewing and managing the domain becomes a condition for the work’s continuation. Ownership does not mean privatization; it means ongoing upkeep.
Domain names are also shown as commodities. Short, memorable names are bought and sold, held by speculators, and acquired by companies. Country-code domains such as .tv and .io have generated revenue or become desirable for particular industries, while names like .eth are traded as assets on blockchain systems. The disappearance of .yu after the breakup of Yugoslavia further suggests that when a state disappears, its corresponding internet territory can disappear as well.