Sixteen Colors is an online archive for ANSI and ASCII artpacks. The artform was originally intended for display on computer textmode consoles. It gained popularity in the early nineties with the rise of dial-up Bulletin Board Systems (BBS).

At one point artists started to group together and release their work in collections released monthly, these collection are called artpacks. Rivalry resulted in fierce competition between these artgroups which only boosted activity. ACiD and iCE are examples of early prominent groups.

The rise of the Internet in the late nineties started the decline of BBS's and thus also the need and interest for ANSI/ASCII art. And although the need has almost vanished, still today artists are producing artpacks in collectives. Sixteen Colors aims to collect these artpacks as an archive in the public interest.

Want to know more? A good starting point is THE ART OF WAREZ is a short-film about the origins and history of the ANSI art scene.