Rent-a-Negro.com was a 2003 web-art-performance created by the conceptual artist damali ayo. It was a trailblazing work both for its unflinching satirical interrogation of the commodification of race in our culture, but also as seminal work in the creation of the genre of Internet Art.

The site exposed the ongoing legacy of enslavement, through describing the modern practice of "renting." It made a host of services available for a range of fees—common requests from white people, which black people are expected to fill on a daily basis for free. It touted testimonials from satisfied customers. A rental form was available on the site, but once filled out and submitted, it denied the request, directing the customer to examine their existing debts to black people.

Originally, the creator had intended to fulfill rental requests as a live performace part of the work, but after frequent threats of lynching, rape, and murder, she concluded this would not be safe.

The work helped shape the early days of the nascent internet, when "blog" was a new term and e-commerce was just beginning. It was at once comedic and scathing. It pushed satire to new boundaries. In the culture at the time, "racism" was still a word that people whispered. Rent-a-Negro.com increased our dialogue about racism, while challenging our cultural definitions of art, and expanding the internet as an artistic medium and social change tool.

 

— 2007 redesigned logo header. Above is the 2003 original header.—

 

It make a lot of people laugh. It made a lot of people think. It made a lot of people furious.

 

The work received international media attention. It is featured in several art history books including, Art in the Making by Glenn Adamson, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Intenet Art by Rachel Greene, and the Rhizome Net Art Anthology.

                 

 

Rent-a-negro.com takes its title from the 1960s/70s comedy routines of Dick Gregory and Godfrey Cambridge, honoring their genius and bringing this briliant concept into a 21st century form. (Dick Gregory called damali ayo a "very funny lady"). Rent-a-negro.com has been copied by countless others. It continues to be an important historical moment in our artistic and cultural development.

 

In 2012 the creator removed the site from the web due to the ongoing hate mail and threats she continued to receive.

You can view an archived version of the original website here.
http://archive.rhizome.org/anthology/rent-a-negro.com/index.htm
Gratitude to Rhizome for preserving this work.

 

The satirical book How To Rent a Negro extends the legacy of this seminal work.

You can learn more about damali ayo at damaliayo.com and on wikipedia.