W:rrlqm 010

- J

te.

'r ""r't o0~

le,

I¸., ,

r - w

SI

wr pW lt!.! -I

J Search Browse Upload Create Account Sign In

AMl M Favorites

Date Added I Most V•inld I Top Rated I Search Uploads

Re: Desktop Re: SEM Freak Re: computer song Nerd Stars Ate Wair (It a not rem Search Rain SEO Rap 1le 28 alowp 41 meows 33 -ows 7 'Iiws 209 viows 5 mohs ago 2 months ago 2 months ago 2 months ago 5 months ago

Blues call otDu,ty 4 song RusKc song 58mowsa 115 'ews 166 ows 67 stows 37 o 1205'owsa 5 o•onthsago 61months ago Smonths ago 5 months ago 5 months ago 5 months ago

no. -az oon no. -y ... _.W. Bob Rkc• Sings The Blues 40-~ OFFICIAL MUJSIC 5 months ago 42 't.ws 157 vows Samoithsago 5 months ao 5 mordhs ago 5 morths ago 5 months ago From Readymade to Readybought: An Ongoing History of Computer Art JODI in conversation with Niels Van Tomme

Niels Van Tomme: I still remember the time Joan Heemskerk: It was indeed all in the has to be slapstick. Well, a desktop that when surfing to one of the jodi.org websites head of the user, because nothing actually begins to jump up and down really scares would cause your browser to begin to multi- went wrong. The work was about the user's people: "Watch out, everything is going ply spontaneously. Dozens of black pop-up relationship with the mouse, the keyboard, wrong here!" windows would chaotically flicker on your and the monitor. It included three pieces of computer screen. People panicked and actu- software, three programs, each externally JH: The fear is enhanced visually. So people ally thought their computers had broken exploring one of those elements. forget to react rationally and just close the down, while in reality the solution was a program. The piece responded to the same very simple computer command. As such, DP: As the software started, it took a picture command as any other program, "Apple Q" the "drama" of the situation was actually a of your desktop, which was then manipu- or "escape." product of the Internet user's imagination. lated into different variants. If you tried to Many consider Borges' text "The Total stop it, it would take you to a different vari- NVT: "ctrl+alt+del" is also one of those Library," 1939, a conceptual precursor to the ant each time. There was, however, no real commands. Internet. Borges also rejected causality and manipulation of the computer at a deeper realism in his work. He wanted to free the level. For us, the computer's graphic interface JH: Yes, and then you were actually able to imagination in order to discover its own was sufficiently interesting. exit. But the minute you saw that visual rules. How important was this tension image, you assumed that your computer between reality and imagination for you in JH: We had researched computer viruses. was ruined. your early Internet works? DP: Yes, we found a way to look at viruses on NVT: Unlike much new media art, where Dirk Paesmans: You are describing a website our computer without any negative conse- the fetishization of technology often con- that automatically downloaded software on quences. In reality, most viruses are based on ceals the artist's personality, your work your computer. Everything would start to go a paranoia effect-the monitor beginning to seems to strongly foreground your input. wrong: that was the basic idea. If you tried to flicker or worms crawling out of letters. A My%Desktop, 2002, provides a good example. do something about it, it only got worse. We virus aims to cause damage somewhere Initially, you think that a computer has gone were punished a number of times for that deep in your computer, which could also crazy in real-time. Then, you realize that it is website, in the sense that the host server happen invisibly. Here, the creative aspect a screen grab-or rather, a video recording would receive complaints. As a result, we had makes explicit the act of placing a virus in of a desktop on which you simultaneously to move the website to a different location someone's computer. It's almost a Hitchcock- execute hundreds of absurd actions. Your each time. ian genre. Not everything about a computer work is not necessarily technological, but

OPPOSITE, TOP TO BOTTOM JODI, GEOGOO. 2009. website: http://geogoo.net; JODI. audioswap. 2009. installation: vinyl records. website http //youtube com/audioswap5 (alt images courtesy of JODI)

ARI PAII R, LlRu 31 conceptual in nature. How do you relate to the video as a medium of distribution-as I was- to translate your work onto another platform. It tradition of conceptual art? and you suddenly discovered the Internet, that literally remains where it gets produced. is, the emergence of a radically new type of JH: I think our work simultaneously embraces "Global TV," you'd want to explore it. DP: It is site-specific in that sense. We realized and rejects it. Much conceptual art begins with very quickly that there was already a developed a concept that is then executed. For us, there NVT: You are referring to the 199os here. In a culture of alternative computer users, which remains a vague idea that we explore through burst of sardonic pride, you have claimed JODI we decided to study. We started using specific experimentation. It contains a number of vari- as the very first "Internet artist." How did you formats in our work, older forms of visualiza- ables, which are not discernible in advance. come to use the Internet as an artistic medium, tion such as simple line drawings in harsh rather than a simple platform on which to colors set against a black background. Our DP: Most of the time, we cannot predict where present artwork? first website had quite a retro feel. We wanted we'll end up. In that sense, our work might be to show our appreciation for the history of more closely related to the history of experi- JH: The Internet was academic, educational, computers by integrating elements such as mental film, video, and television art than to and militaristic at that time... abstracted teletext. traditional conceptual art. Of course, it also The most important aspect was, of course, relates to exhibition context. Our work is not DP: And poetic as well. Hypertext and those the code. It's impossible to create interesting made for the art circuit. Nor do cinema and the kinds of things. work without it. Code involves a lot of math, Internet function in a commercial gallery. We're which was unfortunately not my strength. So experimenting with a mass medium, which JH: Back then, we were living in Silicon Valley. we started making mistakes on purpose. It was means a one-to-one relationship with some- As such, the Internet was growing right around possible, for example, to give the same com- one-just like TV or a book, which ultimately the corner. But it was not yet used as an infor- mand a few hundred times, and have the creates a highly personal connection. If you mation-transmission channel. The advantage of browser effectively execute it. For instance, by were interested in considering television or working with computers is that you don't need repeatedly placing the image of a plane on the

ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: JODI, spamspace, 2005, installation, webcam; JODI, Jet Set Willy Variations, 2001, ZXSpectrum, game modification software

32 ART PAPERS IkLLYOURVIDEO ARE B ELoNG TO.US

ENIETE SLA TE R.NL

exact same spot, the image would start to that webpage in your browser, the correct ver- DP: Fluxus, of course, the destruction of move around and tremble... sion of the drawing was revealed. pianos, violins, and guitars...this idea had to do with the seriousness that accompanies JH: It became an animation because the same NVT: It's not irrelevant to mention that the such instruments, that is, the way they repre- command was given repeatedly. code was a diagram of an atomic bomb! sent classical culture. But, in a certain way, it also evoked the notion that these were all DP: We made the biggest basic code mistake DP: Yes, there was that too. The work included tools of power. on the first page of our very first website. We instructions on how to make an atomic bomb. Some people bury their broken computers simply forgot to include a forward slash in the That hidden layer was a very interesting way in their backyard and film the procedure, first command. If you forget this, you don't to draw attention to the code, which is which they then put on YouTube. Such acts get a nice drawing. Instead of being a prop- inevitably behind everything. do reveal something about their symbolic erly spaced diagram, the drawing was all over relationship to these devices. This notion the place on the screen. We first thought NVT:folksomy.alpha, 2009, your performance is closely related to art and performance. something was wrong with our computer, but at Performa o9, was a chaotic assault on the You see people doing interesting things, ultimately decided that the effect was quite senses, a deconstruction of YouTube, which things that I have never seen an artist do. interesting. We published the mistake online, included one channel showing people In some sense, this piece is a reaction to and, as it turned out, this meant that it was destroying technological equipment in the resampling of YouTube by many media endlessly reproduced. Everyone saw the exact aggressively dedicated and widely varied artists. Our point of departure is rather socio- same mistake in his or her browser, which got ways. These videos looked like they belonged logical, as we're trying to address YouTube us quite a few angry emails. to an unknown subgenre of snuff movies as a genuine culture, sincerely appreciating By daring to make that mistake, we made with machines, but also referenced aspects of what these people are trying to do. We're aim- the code the subject of the piece. When you Fluxus art. How does this work express your ing to emphasize the folklore surrounding subsequently requested to view the source of relationship to high and low culture? web 2.0.

ABOVE, LEFT 1O RIGHT JODI. 404.)odi org. 1997, website; JODI, namespaces, 2009, websites, instatlation

ARIPAPERS ORG 33 In that sense, we are producing a work that your camera, which means that you can place Aren't you essentially showing the audience pins the honest expression of all these people it in the 3D models. Those are essentially how to deconstruct and appropriate devices against our ideas about art. It is the age-old empty, hollow drawings. By inserting the cam- and ways to relate to such sources of power? story of the artist who is jealous of the non- era into them, you can look from the forehead artist, because he or she can formulate his or of a model downwards, where you only see JH: It is certainly not an act against the com- her expressions in a very direct way. totally abstract forms. puter, against what happens inside it, because without it, we would not be able to produce NVT: Most computer games come with a man- NVT- This is something you can do if you our work. It's a love-hate relationship. We ual that explains how a certain game should buy the game, right? It does not require aren't concerned with the destruction of tech- be played, so that the gamer can learn how to any hacking. nology, but rather with a creative way of deal- navigate it. By contrast, you dissect games ing with it. down to their most basic elements, up to the DP: Indeed, you don't have to be a technical point of complete abstraction and unplayabil- hacker. It is essentially the idea of a ready- DP: Well, if I look at our work retrospectively, ity, like in your game modifications of Quake, made-or, in this case, a readybought. It's liter- the basic idea might be to get a better insight 2006, and Max Payne 2, 20o6. To what extent ally in the game when you buy it. It's bad into the ways a computer system functions, or have manuals and read-me texts altered our behavior-behavior that isn't prescribed in the rather, how you can tell stories through all relationships with computers? booklet. Ultimately, however, it is but one of kinds of symbolic tricks. Through manipula- the possible ways to behave in such a game. tion, you can discover how the machine is con- JH: You refer here to two different games. With We don't want to make anything functional structed; how it is trying to have you believe the first one, Quake, we came to the realization with a computer, nor are we trying to convey that something cannot be done differently. We that the game consists of image, sound, and some kind of message. The biggest enemy is show that it can certainly be done differently! code, just like anything else in a computer. So the transmission of information, which we we tried to separate these parts. It's almost like have always hated with a passion. This would an analysis of how the game is constructed, or be comparable to buying a photo camera and Niels Van Tomme is a curator, researcher, art a type of perspective-engine. When a monster deciding to only take lovely pictures of smiling critic, and frequent contributor to ART PAPERS. suddenly stands in front of you, friction is cre- people. That would be ridiculous, since you The Director of Arts and Media at Provisions ated. In our modification of the game, a bloody could also take photographs of the sea, a horse Learning Project in Washington, DC, he lives dog becomes a little square, which still carries that passes you by, or anything else. Prescribed in New York City His independently curated the original sound. In that specific game, we behavior is neither enjoyable for the creator exhibitions have been shown internationally. abstracted these elements to a large degree. nor for the devices. Like surgeons, we dissected the whole into Translated from the Dutch by Sonja Simonyi. parts and then pieced them back together. NVT: I recently read an interview with Manuel With the other game, Max Payne 2, we actu- de Landa, in which he stated that we need a ally didn't change anything. It was not really vaccine against computer games and simula- game modification in the strict sense. Rather, tions, against all layers of virtuality on top of the game is played with the cheats, that is, the simulacra. According to him, we should unofficial manual. acknowledge that all these virtual layers are in fact real-what he calls "the real virtual"- DP: These types of commands are written in because they run above a material basis, which small font on the last page of the manual. For defines the source of power in our society. example, if you are stuck in the game, you can Doesn't your work precisely reveal this source? use one of those cheats to find a way out. If you Does this not hold whether we consider the don't, the game stops being fun. There are all "meaning" of a work hidden in a certain html sorts of other commands. For example, you find code-like with your first website-or your out how to look at the 3D environment with misuses of the Max Payne environment?

OPPOSITE, TOP TO BOTTOM: JODI, Thumbing, 2010, website; http://thumbing.org, YouTube accounts, lambdaprint; JODI, Webcrash, 2008, ur[ street action website: http://webcra.sh

34 ART PAPERS nP\/h.tlp