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Hans Ulrich Obrist - In Conversation with Julian Assange

Hans Ulrich Obrist has the idea to conduct an interview with Julian Assange where questions would be posed by both himself, as well as other artists and collectives over video. He was interested in Assanges public work as the voice of WikiLeaks and the experiences and philosophical background that informs such a project.

Assange stated that he was always a curious child and was breaking encryption systems that stopped software sharing by age 15. He eventually broke systems used to hide information in government computers, but his group was raided by the Federal Police. He began to use cryptography to protect human rights, as there was not enough information available to explain how everything works together. He believes there are three types of history - knowledge, information without an economy, and the information that people actively work to prevent getting in the record. This information is denied to the public and creates a hole in our understanding of the world. His work combines science, mathematics and quantum theory and is based in his hacker background. The computer hacking community stayed underneath the surface, so there was a distorted US perception of the underground as many people were invisible until they were arrested. He became involved in various liberation movements who wanted to change the abuse of power, so he founded WikiLeaks on logical positivism and a fascination with both making cryptic codes and connecting people. It also stemmed from the extraordinary notion of power that came form using mathematics to rebel against institutions and states. WikiLeaks was the result of several ideas pulled together and a shared vision of what information is important and what is not. 

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Seven Digital Deadly Sins Presenation

I found the Seven Digital Deadly Sins to be one of the most relevant and compelling pieces of internet art that I’ve seen. I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of the seven sins and thought that this was an interesting application to the internet. All of these traits are present online , but some are more present while others hide in the corners of the web. I thought it was interesting to think about how certain personality types may exhibit certain sins in public but adapt different qualities online. It was informative and helped me develop ideas for my final project.

The site investigates the way technology is shaping our values and affecting our everyday lives. We now face more moral dilemmas then ever and constantly have our integrity challenged as we navigate the internet. It presents confusing boundaries between self satisfaction and narcissism, as well as  opens new outlets for envy and addiction.

The project is a collaboration between seven different types of artists: novelists, musicians, activists and actresses. It uses first person stories and video contributions that show both extreme and relatable behaviors.  It also uses audience polls to create an engaging, immersive experience. I thought the polls were compelling because they provided a space for viewers to add their opinion and collect data.

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Critique Analysis:

I thought it was very helpful to hear feedback on different possible topics of exploration. I have a clear idea of different projects I want to do for about half the categories, so it was good to get a second opinion on which of those would or wouldn't work. People seemed receptive to my ideas for projects on intimacy and addiction, as those are all elements most of my peers can relate to in their day to day lives. The positive response indicates that this will be an engaging discussion for participants and viewers. It also helped me realize that I should strive to make this project personal and unfiltered. The critique indicated to me that I need to better flesh out my ideas for exploring the dark web and corporations. I found the feedback on the platform very helpful and am going to look into making a website where I can separate the content by category, as well as explain the Instagram format.

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Internet Mid-Point Check In:

For my project I am creating an Instagram account that will act as an exploration of seven different categories that offer insight into the way technology impacts our lives. I developed a set schedule and the topics move from light hearted to serious. I wanted to use Instagram as the platform because I believe it is the most influential medium of digital communication at the present. I downloaded Moment, an app that tracks your phone usage in great detail and am using screenshots of my daily activity to break up each day. Tracking my personal usage allows me to better understand the ways in which I am personally tied to technology. I’m also using their second app that tracks texting and driving, which shows how much I am willing to compromise my safety for the instant gratification technology provides.

I start the week with Internet Art and follow that with memes to show the ways we try to make sense of the deeply rooted effects of technology. From there I explore millennial culture, stereotypes and how growing up in the digital world affects the psyche. That leads into the fourth topic of this effect on intimacy and then Internet addiction. I then explore the dark web and the way huge corporations utilize technology to control the masses. My final topic is current events, so the page will act as both an archive and a place where I can respond to these changes.

Using internet content at the outset helps me brainstorm ideas for my own content and educates me on the reality of the digital world, but every week I will begin to pull less content from the internet and create my own. Eventually I will develop a specific mini project for each topic so that I can tap into something deeper within each category.

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If You’re Not Paranoid, You’re Crazy

It is hard to grasp the relationship between different technological devices, as we are unsure of their capacity to exchange information. It is unclear if they are able to pick up our voices and communicate our information to others through the “cloud”. The writer, Walter Kirn, relays personal anecdotes relating to this experience of seeing evidence of our lack of privacy. He researched programs via different online technology forums for an explanation for the algorithms that tailor advertising to specific individuals. He recounts an instance during his engagement where he was consistently presented with ads and pop ups regarding adultery and divorce. This seemed like a dark omen regarding the internets ability to manipulate us, so he further researched the power of information analysis and found that Facebook used computerized detective work to tell when two of its users were falling in love. This reveals that services such as Facebook and Google know more about our unconscious than we think and are thus able to predict and control behaviors. To get a concrete impression of this process he went to the Utah Data Center that was the depository of all of the data - browsing histories, photo libraries, login information. This center unscrambles, analyzes and stores this information for unknown uses. It was impossible to know the extent of information that this center could hold and decrypt. He questions what will happen when the concept of privacy becomes archaic and all information was self disclosed. To not feel haunted by the ghosts of our internet past is to not be awake to the realities of our society, so it’s okay to be a little paranoid.

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Project proposal

For my final project I was inspired by the tumblrs we keep for this class and wanted to use that platform to explore the different ways in which society is affected by the internet. I want to use a variety of different mediums to convey the many types of online information. In addition on to the tumblr I will be downloading an app that allows me to track my daily iPhone usage and I will post my results daily. I'm interested to see the changes in results depending on how much time I spend on the tumblr, a sell as tacking different patterns. I'm including everything from: Screenshots of memes YouTube video links Internet art Graphics Stock photos Screenshots of headlines Links to news reports Statistics Psychological analysis My own journal writes Photographic documentation of the prevalence of tech in my own life Interviewing people of all ages Any technological developments Gifs My analysis I want to develop a theme for the blog that reflects the overwhelming amount of content. I want the images to be compact and am interested to see which images jump out most to different people. I will post content daily and this will track the social and technological changes from now until it's due date. This is a fun way for me to create a historical documentation that is both appreciative and critical society. I will include sound and manipulate effects to create maximum visual stimulation. I think that this probation will give me insight into my personal beliefs about the psychological effects of technology and that by the end I will have a concise argument that supports my theory.

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Dark Net

This section of the book touched on how illicit content available on the dark web creates a space where social norms do not exist. Toxic disinhibition compels many to do or say things they wouldn't do in real life, such as distribute or consume illegal pornographic content.  Many young adults intentionally distribute their own pornographic content as a means of getting validation. Websites such as 4chan have rating threads where people will post explicit photos inviting either negative or positive feedback from others, yet by making this content public they open a forum for public scrutiny and invalidation. Mike Goodwin’s theory of Uneset behavior  proposes that as an online discussion continues the more likely it is to become nasty and if it goes on indefinitely it is certain. There is also a rise in “revenge porn”, where someone posts someone else's explicit content for vengeful purposes. The only way to remove these photo is through an independent company, but removal of such images costs 499.99

 The dark web has changed the way illegal content is distributed and with networks like Tor, these links are only a few clicks away. In 1990 the NSPCC estimated there were only 7,000 known images of child pornography being distributed and it required much effort, so it was really only accessed by those who had a predisposition for this fetish. Now on the dark web, child pornography pages were the most popular second only to the Hidden Wiki page that is the center of this web. a 2014 study showed that it accounts for 83% of dark web consumption. Often people do not intentionally go to these sites but are brought there via a series of links on a normal website. Research conducted by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation states that 9 out of 10 internet sex offenders did not seek out these images, but found them via links on other sites. This suggests that pornography itself is a gateway to these other things.Child pornography and other fetishes, illegal or not, are extremely taboo and prosecuted. The consumers of this content are fascinated with its illicit status and often are compelled to explore other categories as they become numb to these things. These people are defined as pedophiles, abnormal individuals who are the outliers of society. When it becomes a criminal act and they are placed in the limelight for their crimes, these people are fascinating to the rest of society for their warped sense of desire and minds. These cases are often high profile and we are fascinated with them because they provide basis for a psychological investigation. We are fascinated with psychological conditions we perceive to be “sick” or twisted. The high number of consumers of this illegal content suggests that these people are compelled to back up the sentence as a means of hiding their own dark desires. We are interested in the psychology behind these forbidden acts, from everything to incest, beastiality and child pornography.

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Dark Net 1-109

The internet began as a small scientific project in the 1960’s run by the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Pentagon intended to create an “Arpanet” of linked computers to share information between American academics and governmental elite; however, the talk function was entertaining and became more important than the data transfers. This eventually lead to the ability to communicate with people without the pressures of interpersonal interactions through features such as email.  It has since grown to the be the web we know today and the center of the digital world.

The turn of the millennium saw a rise in “Not Safe For Work Sites” that contained content featured according to its popularity. Now image sharing websites with little moderation like 4chan offer a plethora of possibilities for anonymous and often explicit discussion. There are only a set of loose guidelines stating that nothing is to be taken seriously, no limits apply and that nothing is sacred. It is entirely uncensored and opens the door for all types of content and commentary. Individuals who choose to post explicit content are often at risk for having their identities exposed. It is far too easy for active users to trace everything from phone numbers to addresses and social media handles. The internet creates a false sense of disassociation between reality and the digital world, so people will exhibit “toxic disinhibition” and say or do things they wouldn’t in real life. This often leads to demeaning commentary and criticism that can lead to psychological damage and raises many questions about privacy in the digital world.

The dark web is a growing portion of the internet that contains encrypted and often illegal content. Tor was the first such platform and began as a Naval Research Laboratory project, but now is a means for millions of people to anonymously peruse the internet. Tor repeatedly encrypts activity and routes it through different nodes so all websites and users on the service are untraceable. The dark net encompasses a wide variety of unknowable pages, websites and hidden content. It is very easy to access and illegal content is merely clicks away. Bitcoin is a form of internet money that has no independent value and is not tied to real world currency. It is the monetary backing for the dark web and is used to fund the drug trafficking that is a widely known staple of the dark web. The dark web is an underworld of the internet where criminals and predators can thrive, as it lacks the rules and limitations of societal norms.

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Brenna Murphy

Brenna Murphy’s work is self described portraiture that explores the essence of entity through different representations. She bends the concept of reality to incorporate that exploration in her art. In her process she will observe the natural world around her and translate that into online textures in shapes through different computer programs. Her online photos often have a cohesive compositional repetition that she says is an automatic response for her.

She creates a wide variety of art in different mediums such as collages, installations and collaborative performance art that are all linked through the shared theme. Working in different mediums allows her to explore the complexity of the topic and stretch her brain. There are different ways that the medium affects the art making experience and the final result. Working physically forces the body to be int he present and the art and body become one. Working digitally through computer programs created by others takes the mind down different paths that she compares to a mental dance. She constantly collects media and seeks to find fluid relationships between all the different digital tools available.

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Project Proposal

For my One Image/One Page project I wanted to create a web experience that spoke to the way the internet is affecting society. We consume so much content daily and it is impossible to process all of the images we see in a single day. I created this image a while back and developed a technique to get this double exposure effect. I’m interested in this topic because I personally resonate with this dependance on technology in many aspects of my life. I cannot imagine college without google, transportation without maps, or communication without texting.

I chose different images and video clips that I played on a loop and shot the image with a long exposure. I wanted to convey a sense of overwhelming anxiety and confusion. I used strong saturation to convey the intensity of the emotion and experience. This image was the only frame I shot, so the lines in the photo were up to chance and I used the triangular blocks and horizontal lines as a background for the text. The text “We’re Drowning in Content” is meant to give context to the work and acts as a title. The text in the corner speaks to the social and mental affects that the digital world creates. Despite the negative consequences we are drawn to the internet in an addictive way. This creates a cycle of validation and invalidation, insecurity and security. Social media has been linked to causing anxiety and depression that is fueled by the way technology has changed forms of communication. The carefully crafted online persona does not accurately represent reality and affects peoples personal identity; however, people crave the validation from perceived online connection. It is changing that we see the world and ourselves, as well as rewiring our brain to become dependent on technology.

More insecurity stems from fear of how the internet is controlling our culture and the power that corporations have. They are able to influence society through everything from ads to computer systems and have access to more data about us then we know. This creates a “Big Brother” effect that poses terrifying questions for our privacy in the future. We are dependent on services such as google and many see the internet as their defining connection to the world. We discussed in class the ways companies will create user agreements with fine print that people generally do not read. We are unaware of what exactly we are signing off and what privacy protection we are giving up. They use this data to analyze our behavioral habits, preferences and psychology to intentionally structure their service so that it is compelling and keeps us hooked.

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Interview with Jeremy Bailey

Jeremy Bailey is a Canadian artist whose work speaks to custom software through a pre formative lens. He blends humor and computer software to critique the relationship between technology and the body. His work is grounded in performance video art and believes that technology changes our understanding of our psyche and physical body. While his later works are an analysis of public art, his earlier works focus more on the relationship of the body and the camera. He was influenced by Rosalind Krauss’s Aesthetics of Narcissism and its description of narcissism as a tactic of deflection or a complex recreation of a persona. He wanted to understand the effects of extending the physical body in internet connected computers that feature a built in camera. His work Transhuman Dance Recital he replaces arms with 3-D geometric primitives to symbolize a rebirth in video life form. It speaks to the idea that technology represents future developments in evolution and how the physical requirements (head bent down to look at a phone, typing on the computer) will change our bodies. He also considers the social affects that the dependance on technology has and compares devices to glasses that reflect the world around them.  He studied the history of performance art and cameras to ground his art in theory. In the late 1960’s and early 70’s photography was a poor substitution for performance, but the low cost and ability to preview and evaluate made new media a compelling space ofr experimentation. Artists began to use the camera for performance so they could see their reflection and blend their persona with art. The 1980’s saw an increase in advanced technology and computer artists also used video to capture their works, but did not acknowledge the presence of themselves or the camera. Now the online experience and interface takes over the presence, body and persona of the artist. This inspired him to make artistic commentary on contemporary culture and how everyone has grappled with an augmented version of themselves.

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Character Development: Brody Condon’s “Level5” and the Avant-LARP of Becoming Self:Character Development: Brody Condon’s “Level5” and the Avant-LARP of Becoming Self:

Erhard was attending a buisness   meting in San Fransisco when he experienced a transformation where he became his “Self”. He exensively studied  spirituality and was searching for a moment of enlightenment where he would find the truth and his true self. He began the Erhard Seminars Training weekend where he educated people how to expand their conscious and tools for self actualization. The program was a huge success with the baby boomers of the 70’s and he is thought to be one of the founders of the self help industry. Many people felt they were living inauthentic lives shaped by growing consumer culture and greed, so they turned to self help to find their individual identity in a world where private and public space were increasingly intertwined. We still grapple with this issue of identity, as social media has created a “scripted” self that is carefully curated.

 Brody Condon created Level 5, a participatory performance piece where people would create a character that they would take through the process of self discovery. He wanted to give the players many opportunities to interact with one another while keeping space for  individual reflection. The participants were mostly LARP novices and varied in age and interest. They had to be conscious of the different layers - core self, self, created self, as well as the many layers to the characters. People were either skeptical or did their best to face parts of themselves they wanted to heal.

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Net Art Report

Screenfull was a project created by Abe Linkoln and Jimpunk in 2004 that took a maxamalist approach to content and design. The artists described it as “stadium rock net.art” for its loud colors and crowded content. Blogging was becoming increasingly popular, as was the same high frequency of personal posting that still exists in 2017. The artists constantly churned out manipulated content that included everything from audio, looping videos, GIFS and images found on the internet; however, they broke the traditional layout and structure of blogs by frequently changing the layout of their page. The setup of the site would change with the content, so the blog worked as an ever evolving digital collage. The site adapted to always push the different technical constraints of the current time. They explored the possibilities of net art as online expression evolved from personalized pages to hosted services. The sensory overload was heightened by unsettling music, skulls and the message “We crash your browser with out content”. In 2004 much less data existed on the web than does now, so people were not used to experiencing so much stimulation from their screens. Sites like Facebook had just been created and devices such as smartphones were not nearly as popular. Wikipedia and other similar online encyclopedias were not yet created, so people were not as aware of just how much information existed in cyberspace. Screenfull foreshadowed the overwhelming amount of data that fills our screens today, as well as the immense roll the internet plays in our day to day lives.

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Arcangel

Cory Archangels works encompass a wide range of mediums with no media boundaries that are representative of all the tools available to to the modern day artist. He uses all resources at his disposal and collaborates with musicians, artists and programmers to bolster the quality of his work. His reputation as an artist stems from the popularity of his 8 bit construction sets where he manipulated different 8 bit computer and video game systems. He hacked into these systems and changed their structure to short circuit their narrative. Many of his other works employ this technique as well and he gained additional notoriety with his video installation a couple thousand films about glenn gould. He searched the internet for different YouTube videos of people playing the first variation of Bach’s Goldberg variations and recut the clips to create a video that incorporated one clip for every note. He created a melange of sounds and instruments that gave the piece an entirely different sound. This tactic of manipulating borrowed works is a core aspect of internet art that requires an understanding of computer systems and visual content.

He wrote different articles that explained various aspects of computer systems. On C is one of his articles where he goes into depth about JPEGS and the process of compression. Image compression is used to reconstruct images without sending all the data, as the less data there is to send the cheaper and faster it will be. Lossless and Lossy compression are the two methods that are employed to convert the images into a lower quality file. We tend to not notice the bits and pieces that compression changes, but we can pick up on the blocky effect that is unique to this type of file. This blocky look is a hallmark of the internet in the 2000’s and the more that is available online the more we will need to compress the information.

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Internet Art

The tools available for Internet art are always changing and replenishing. The technology created during the Cold War in Eastern Europe lead to a number of different platforms for media that was the base of the net.art scene. The rise of mass media solidified the growing consumer culture forever changed all types of communication. This focus on material goods increased production and required more sophisticated marketing tactics to draw consumers. Movement away from traditional art spaces increased alongside the growth in technology. Many of the early artists were influenced by Dadaism and were more concerned with events rather than art as visual representations. Artists wanted to use elements of time and space to create a different experience of interpersonal reactions. EAT was a group who made some of the first exhibits that used scientific engineering to change spaces depending on the physical conditions and spacial arrangement of the viewers. Other artists explored Happenings and performance art to try and achieve this goal.

Audience engagement with particular spaces is a primary concern of internet art, as now there are many different platforms where one can access the web. This was made possible by the Apple Macintosh released in 1985 which was the first computer that resembles what we have today. It was user friendly with its desktop display that showed the computer interface that incorporated sliceable icons. It was affordable and more and more people quickly became plugged into the web. Now there are many different web portals and resources that let us utilize a variety of different features. The Web not only has sites for searching, communicating and shopping, but also provides the artists with many tools for visual creation and manipulation. Laptops, cell phones and iPads all have different screens and abilities that change the experience. Technology and the internet is always evolving and the items at the artists disposal never stay the same.

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Allen Kaprow

Allen Kaprow is one of the most influential artists who created different types of Happenings in the 1950’s. Happenings were influenced by Abstract Expressionism which championed that artistic and aesthetic acts were not limited to paintings and made environments intrinsically linked to the work. Kaprow believed that the boundary between art and life should be fluid and sought to created a new language and experience to develop outside of “culture” and the rules of traditional art. He created a set of rules for Happenings that were based around the idea that human senses crave the maximum amount of information and multi sensory stimulation. He stated that Happenings should only happen once unless there is something specific in the score to make each one unique. The timing should not be fixed and instead be determined by the audience and other factors specific to that moment in time. He wanted the concept of audience to be eliminated and for all participants to be an essential part of the work.

He was heavily focused on a movement away from traditional limitations of art. His text states that the concept behind Happenings can stem from anywhere but art itself. Art itself is grounded in highly sophisticated and studied habits that are not representative of the ever changing world. Similarly, he stated that Happenings can take place anywhere besides a theatre, as actors have the same developed habits as artists. He wanted a new language to develop rather than utilizing antiquated terms and environments.