DIGIMAG the Digicult’S Project Journal | N° 75 | Year XI | Spring 2017 1 DIGIMAG Issue 75 / Spring 2017

ISSN: 2037-2256 n° 75 | year XI Spring 2017 Euro 0,00 75

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 1 DIGIMAG Issue 75 / Spring 2017

CURATED BY Silvia Bertolotti, Marco Mancuso

EDITING Silvia Bertolotti, Roberta Colavecchio, Marco Mancuso

DIGITAL PUBLISHING Loretta Borrelli

COVER Marco Cadioli, Square with concentric circles #64 (2013)

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS Samaa Ahmed, Nicola Bozzi, Claire Burke, Marco Cadioli, Alessio Chierico, Salvatore Iaconesi, Patty Jansen, Linda Kronman, Miriam La Rosa, Patrick Lichty, Randall Packer, Oriana Persico, Jeroen Van Loon, Andreas Zingerle

PUBLISHER Digicult - Digital Art, Design & Culture Largo Murani 4, Milano Editorial Press registered at Milan Court, number N°240 of 10/04/06. ISSN Code: 2037-2256

LICENSES Creative Commons, Attribution-NonCommercial NoDerivs Creative Commons 2.5 Italy (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5)

PRINTED AND DISTRIBUTED BY DIGICULT EDITIONS ISBN: 978-1-291-38203-7

PUBLISHED IN COLLABORATION WITH Goethe-Institut

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 2 Table of Contents

THE REPRESENTATION OF SELF IN DIGITAL LIFE. DIGITAL ONTOLOGY FOR DIGITAL IDENTITY 7. Alessio Chierico

THE MUTANT CUTE: MEITU,THE SELFIE, AND THE REWRITING OF GLOBAL IDENTITIES 16. Patrick Lichty

THE POST HUMAN CYBORGIAN BODY: DITHERING BETWEEN THE REAL AND THE VIRTUAL 21. Claire Burke

ALGORITHMIC MEMORIES. THE CASE OF “YEAR IN PHOTOS 2014” 25. Marco Cadioli

NETWORKED CONNECTED MEMORY 31. Patty Jansen

MOVING OUTSIDE FIXED BOUNDARIES: … ‘IN RESIDENCE’? 36. Miriam La Rosa

SELLING MY FULL GENOME TO THE HIGHEST BIDER. USING ART TO EXPAND THE DISCOURSE SURROUNDING DNA DATA 47. Jeroen Van Loon

PUTTING THE SELF IN SELFIE: AN EXPLORATION INTO THE WAYS IN WHICH DIGITAL DEVICES ACT AS AN EXTENSION OF THE SELF 57. Samaa Ahmed

THE AESTHETICS OF PRODUCTIVE ANXIETY. SILVIO LORUSSO AND THE ENTREPRECARIAT 66. Nicola Bozzi

EVIL WEB BUSINESSES, ROMANCE SCAMS AND PHONE FRAUD. 3 ARTISTIC CASE STUDIES DECON- STRUCTING SCAMMERS ONLINE IDENTITIES 76. Linda Kronman, Andreas Zingerle

ALGORITHMIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY: A NEW LITERARY GENRE 85. Salvatore Iaconesi, Oriana Persico

XTREME TRUMPOLOGY 97. Randall Packer

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 3 MANIFESTO

Since 2005, Digicult is one of the main online platform that examines the impact of digital technologies and science on art, design, culture and contemporary society. Based on an international Network of critics, curators, artists, designers, professors, researchers, journalists, media center, galleries and festival, Digicult is an editorial project that daily publish news, informations, articles, interviews, reports and even essays, artists’ book and the Digimag Journal through its online publishing service Digicult Editions.

Digimag Journal is an interdisciplinary online publication seeking high-standard articles and reviews that focus on the impact of the last technological and scientific developments on art, design, communication and creativity. Following the former Digimag Magazine (72 issues in 7 years), it is based on international call for papers on given subjects and provides readers with comprehensive accounts of the latest advancements in the international digital art and culture scene.

Digimag was born as a monthly magazine and published 72 issues in over 7 years. It provided readers with comprehensive accounts of the latest advancements in the international digital art scene and culture. The magazine evolved year after year, issue after issue, morphing into a hybrid instrument able to reflect the complexity of contemporary artistic and cultural production. It quickly became a cultural instrument, a tool for academics, researchers, students, artists, designers, geeks and practitioners connected to the main international media centers, universities, contemporary art galleries, digital art festivals and hacktivist networks.

Digicult Editions is the publishing initiative of the Digicult project, whose goal is to be active in the publication of the Digimag Journal, but also critical and theoretical books and essays commissioned to international authors, university thesis of special interest, publications edited in collaboration with other national and international publishers, conference proceedings and classes materials connected to educational activities, as well as peer-reviewed publications with institutional partners.

Digicult Editions has now 4 different book series: Networks (Internet, Networks, IT), (h)activism (social and political impact of technologies), Arts and Sounds (more strictly visual and/or sound art), Rhizomes (genres’ intersection) and Digital narratives (new narrative formats: literature, gaming etc).

Digicult Edition uses all the tools of a contemporary digital publishing: the print on demand (POD) approach through Peecho, Epub and Mobi formats, always giving the chance to join all the prewieves through the Digicult Library on Issuu https://issuu.com/home/publisher). All contents by Digicult Editions are circulating under CC Licences: Attribu- tion-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Identity is becoming a fluid concept, encompassing different domains of the self. How are identities affected by technology and digital tools? What is the role of art in shaping this notion

One of the most interesting aspects of our relationship with technology is the way we relate to other people

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 4 DIGITAL IDENTITIES SELF NARRATIVES

Identity is becoming a fluid concept, encompassing different domains of the self. How are identities affected by technology and digital tools? What is the role of art in shaping this notion

One of the most interesting aspects of our relationship with technology is the way we relate to other people and create new identity narratives through it. Internet, social networks and p2p tools have amplified this phenomenon, enabling the ramification of larger networks built around individuals. As a consequence, personal narratives are linked to virtual (and real) dimensions of social, economic and artistic fields. Digital identity becomes, therefore, the individual unit of a larger digital culture environment.

This subject has been widely studied in Streaming Egos, the pioneering international project by Goethe Institut (http:// blog.goethe.de/streamingegos/) which involved five different European countries through the production of an online platform, some critical texts, a convention, commissioned artworks and a final catalogue. The aim of the project was to study how Internet, social networks and, more in general, technologies are modelling the way we relate to others and to the external world, both conceived not simply as biological systems, but also as virtual entities telling their own stories.

“Who am I?” is a primordial existential question, with different connotations depending on the context (social, political or cultural). “Who do I want (or: do I have) to be?” is questioning the very basis of economy, ethics, theology and politics, especially in its collective meaning “Who are we?”

The act of transforming and reinventing the concept of ourselves and, consequently, the idea of community is at the very basis of identity explorations in the digital era. Identity becomes a fluid concept, encompassing different domains of the self. How are identities affected by technology and digital tools? What is the role of art in shaping this notion?

When interacting with other people on the Net, individuals reflect more and more on themselves, carefully choosing contents (whether personal or not) to be shared (and seen by others). This leads to a self-discourse redefining the notions of identity, repetition and difference .and, consequently

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 5 Alessio Chierico, “[e-Book] Intellectual Property - A Reference Handbook”, photo by Alessio Chierico THE REPRESENTATION OF SELF IN DIGITAL LIFE Digital ontology for digital identity

by Alessio Chierico

1 Introduction person is translated from the physics standing of the digital nature. of oxygen and carbon to the physics of As extensively debated, nowadays it electron, and the logic of bits. For this 2 Digital Ontology is possible to recognize that digital is reason become necessary to question an essential substance that constitutes what the digital is. Thus, it becomes Firstly, referring to digital ontology, it the basis of our cultural production as necessary to entail an ontological per- is important to clarify that this term well as virtual identity. In fact, virtual spective toward digital. The research defines two very different fields, that identity should not be seen exclusively presented here combines the idea of must be distinguished, in order to as a proliferation of the self in social digital identity with digital ontology. avoid any confusion. This term is of- networks in form of profile or avatar. Exposing issues like visual representa- ten used in “digital physics” for identi- Instead, it lies in the very deep sub- tion and materiality, it aims to provide fying a hypothetical cosmology which stance of digital: the fact that every the conceptual tools for an under- believes that the whole universe is de-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 6 scribable with discrete values, there- not just regard digital as a new po- qualities. For instance, the ontological fore everything: time, space, every en- tential substance of former material concerns that are connected to the tity and process is computable. Taking artefacts, but it is seen as an unifying translation of analogue contents into a deterministic perspective, digital element which determines all the cul- digital formats. ontology relies upon the idea that uni- tural production, as well as the hu- Digital ontology opens questions of verse is modelled by integer values, man identity itself. As figured out by various kind. One of these suggests and that its evolution is just the out- Marshall McLuhan, already in 1964: to rethink the idea of intellectual put of an algorithm. These theories “In this electric age we see ourselves property, according to the possibilit- date back to 1967 when the computer being translated more and more into ies that digital offers, and the limita- pioneer Konrad Zuse wrote the book the form of information, moving to- tions which it is subject. The process Calculating Space (Zuse 1970), which ward the technological extension of of “remediation”, as it was identified poses the bases of digital ontology in consciousness”. (McLuhan 1994: 57) by Bolter and Grusin: a kind of Dar- digital physics. Nowadays the intuition of McLuhan winian evolution in which media ab- In these theories, results particularly matured in the extremes consequences sorbs, translate and integrate between interesting the concept of computab- brought by digital technologies. Ac- themselves in a sort of competition ility of the phenomenological world: cording to Aden Evens: (Bolter and Grusin 2002), together the possibility to describe, translate, The digital has an ontology, a way with the advent of digital technolo- and atomise aspects of reality in bin- of being, and products and processes gies, envision the emergence of a par- ary form. These specific potentials generated through digital technolo- ticular issue. Assuming that digital is a become popularised by the argument- gies bear traces of this way of being. meta-medium: it crosses transversally ations of Nicholas Negroponte, es- […] The hallmark of the digital is to any medium, changing the “material” pecially from his book Being Digital render abstraction materially operat- of their “skeleton” with digital code (Negroponte 2001). With a notably ive, to bring abstraction into the con- (Manovich 2009), the remediation it different perspective then digital crete without it ceasing to be abstract. performs is able to recreate fluidly any physics, Negroponte related atoms to Primarily by incorporating abstrac- form or content with same, or sim- bits. tion, the people, objects, and events of ilar degree of fidelity of its original. In Accordingly, the atoms that compose digital culture connect to and engage other terms, if the appearance of the the physical reality, can be conceptu- with the digital technologies at the digital version of a content/artefact is ally translated with bits in the digital heart of that culture (Evens 2012). the same then its original form, it does realm. In this sense, Negroponte pre- Digital is an essential substance which not mean that its essence remained dicted that all forms of information flows deep in the structures of cultural unaltered, thus it cannot be submitted made by atoms are destined to become production. For this reason, it is ne- to the same restrictions. For instance, digital. If digital physics pretends to be cessary to acknowledge its nature, to if we consider the physical space that a descriptive model of universal phys- find some remote structures of culture was necessary for containing all the ics, Negroponte proposes an opposite and identity. Since it becomes obvious books of a library, it is easy to notice vision, in which digital is not seen as a that the advent of digital influenced that, in comparison with their corres- cosmological system which composes our culture, seems necessary to ques- ponding digital version, the physical the reality, but as a system based on tion: what is digital? This question space become accessory, or at least ir- minimal units, which are technically brings us directly to the core of digital relevant. able to reproduce any kind of inform- ontology: a research on the essence, ation which is presented by the em- on the nature, and on the forms of 2.2 The vacuity of the content in the pirical reality. digital. It is here believed that one of digital domain the possible answers to the previous 2.1 Digital ontology for digital iden- question, can be found in the way di- Intellectual property is a concept that tity and cultural production gital performs the transcription from ignores the medium which is used to the analogue world. With the intent host its contents. For instance, a writer Digital is becoming each time more of exposing the ontology of digital, holds the intellectual property of his predominant in any moment of hu- a particular hint emerges when di- text, in any of the forms in which it man experience. Digital ontology do gital is related to its representational can be recorded: engraved in a stone,

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 7 written on paper, or on a digital file. In representation is not the text itself, by ted in a paper book (Lorusso 2015). all these forms, the intellectual prop- just its code, can the result of this pro- Ironically, the book chosen for this erty remain in equal measure, because cess be considered a copyright viola- project is clearly referring to the in- it is completely independent from its tion? Moreover, can this code be still tellectual property. The content of support. However, when an artefact considered as a product of the writer? this printed book presents unread- is transcribed in digital/informational Does it maintain its authorship? able pages of hexadecimal code, that form, its objective essence is com- These questions motivate the de- technically correspond to the original posed of numerical code, and it can- velopment of the project [e-Book] text. Indeed, copying all the code of not be subject to the same regulations Intellectual Property - A Reference this book, and converting it to ASCII, of intellectual property, as it is in its Handbook. This work, made in 2011, the original text will appear again. intelligible form. In other words, if consists of a pirate copy of the book This project raises a question about we transcribe the numerical code that Intellectual Property - A Reference authenticity: is the original text more composes a text covered by intellec- Handbook, which text has been de- real than its numerical representation? tual property, in a way that its visible coded in hexadecimal code and prin- Intellectual property as well as many other aspects of cultural production, are habits, historically determined by past media and technologies, which are still reiterated in our contempor- aneity. However, it is here believed that these aspects, even if they are un- derstandable, should be re-discussed, according to the ontological issues that emerged with the advent of digital technologies.

2.3 Forms of digital

Digital ontology and its main issues, are the primary topics which are reflec- ted in all the projects that are presented in here. nOne and three chairs a project developed by the author in 2008, investigates the conception of digital form. This work, presented as installation, is a reenactment of one of the most important artworks of conceptual art: One and three chairs by Joseph Kosuth, remade according to the questions raised by digital, about its essence (Mesrie 2015). Method- ologically, nOne and three chairs, as well as its inspirational work made by Kosuth, proposes a conceptual logic, which considers the artistic practice as a semantic tool. The original One and three chairs, made in 1965, was a composition of three different forms in which a chair Alessio Chierico, “nOne and three chairs”, photo by Alessio Chierico can be represented. One real chair was

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 8 Alessio Chierico, “Hiden Nude”, photo by Alessio Chierico placed to one of the exhibition walls, to its right, there was the chair is replaced with a computer and a screen which a text with the definition of the word “chair” taken from a shows a digital representation of the chair. As reported by dictionary, in its left there was a photographic print, in real the title, all these three elements correspond to the same scale, of that same physical chair. With this work, Kosuth or none thing. All chairs are at the same ontological level, created a tautology which meant to exemplify how the idea they are real in the same way, but, meanwhile there is no of the chair can be decomposed in: its plastic materiality, actual chair to represent itself. Digital is an abstraction its theoretical definition, and its visual representation. This which emancipates its form from the necessity of having process shows that none of the three elements is more real any referent. Thus, digital must be intended as a self-refer- than the others, they are all different views of the same ential entity, its own way of relating to the chair (or idea thing. of a chair) does not pretend any relationship with the This work highlighted the foundational participation of chair itself. This demonstrates that the chair becomes both language in the definition of reality, and the conceptual meta-representation and an autonomous element. value as a connective tool to create meanings. It is the Plato’s theory of forms which reminds Kosuth that the idea is the 2.4 Digital materiality for an ontology of digital cause of any material production (Goldie and Schellekens 2009). Thus, the essence of art can be encountered and re- Form and material have always been central to the dis- duced to its pure concept. This aspect assumes a relevant cussion about the ontology of things. Indeed, materiality value when we acknowledge that digital has the same level presents precious insights to address the research of digital of the immateriality of ideas. From this reflection came out ontology. First of all, this discussion must acknowledge the nOne and three chairs, which tautology assumes the same research of Friedrich Kittler, which is based on the prin- function proposed by the work of Kosuth, but it focuses on ciple that every act of communication has its physical ex- the ontological specificities of digital. pression. In this sense, even actions like handwriting con- In this project, the three chairs are here substituted by three serve the fingerprints left by the bodily engagement of the digital chairs: the real chair is replaced by a digital print of writer, with the materiality of pen and paper (Kittler 1990: a chair, the definition from the dictionary is replaced by the 83-4). For investigative or juridical needs, the forensic ana- digital code that drawn the chair, and the photograph of lysis takes into account all these material aspects of media,

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 9 in the production of their contents: tual” (Huhtamo 2004: 4). ages. for example, the handwriting forensic. From an ontological perspective, the In digital photography the film is For this reason, with the intention of objectuality of screens raises questions substituted by sensors which react to understanding and analysing the di- about the relation between “represen- light, identifying in discrete values, gital essence, Matthew Kirschenbaum ted” and “representation”: the subject the image that the light brings whit proposes to assume a “forensic ima- and its digital depiction, but also the itself. The most concrete difference gination” (Kirschenbaum 2008). In digital subject and its physical mani- between analogue and digital photo- his opinion, the forensic analysis used festation. This last perspective is faced graphy, is given by the step in which to find traces of digital presence in by the artistic practices which are the values detected by the sensor are computational systems, can be used to defined as Post-Internet and Post-Di- translated in digital form, becoming expose the deep material nature of digital art. In fact, the works which ex- totally alienated and abstract. gital, which unfold in form of: grooves press this kind of research, dissem- The suspicion aroused about digital in optical disks, electric impulses, or in inate classical digital emerges considering magnetic recordings, etc. (Kirschen- aesthetics as objects in DIGITAL IS NOT that: the values of the baum 2008: 2-3). Digital is not imma- the physical world. IMMATERIAL, image enter the do- terial, as commonly considered, it has AS COMMONLY main of abstraction. its own specific and dynamic material- 3.1 Digital visual rep- CONSIDERED, IT HAS Thus, a manipulated ities. Certainly, the flexibility of digital resentation and its or digitally generated ITS OWN SPECIFIC derives from its logical computability, referent image, is not less real but this should not hide its depend- AND DYNAMIC than the one that sup- ence on physics. Moreover, the deep One large discussion MATERIALITIES poses to be a registra- nature of digital, in its microscopic that involves the dition of reality. In facts scale, leaves traces, fingerprints which gital image and its representational Stephen Mayes, acknowledging the determine the aesthetic specificities of capabilities, concentrates its attention technical revolution of photography, its contents, and it exposes the mech- on digital photography, especially the states that: commonly, two third of a anism of the system (Drucker 2013). problematic about the loss of referent. digital photograph is determined by It is commonly supported the idea interpolations made by the software, 3 Ontology of digital image which believes that analogue pho- instead than being an optical record of tography guarantees that the image light (Mayes 2015). As previously said, the material of di- impressed on film, is the result of an In this sense, Mayes questions the au- gital can be seen in form of electric actual presence and existence of the thenticity of the digital picture. Since impulse, and in any other physical subjects in the picture. This argument the consumers are subjects to the manifestation of its presence. How- was deeply argued by the semiotician trends of certain kind of visual aes- ever, it is also important to acknow- Roland Barthes with the following thetics, the producer needs to create ledge that also the materiality of the statement: “I call “photographic ref- tools of automatic manipulation for devices that control and contain di- erent” not the optionally real thing to the creation of the picture by soft- gital, needs a special attention. The which an image or a sign refers but ware, independently from the fidelity graphic representation, for instance, is the necessarily real thing which has of the raw data captured by the cam- subject to the constraints of digital bits been placed before the lens, without era (Mayes 2015). In a certain sense, as well as to the constraints of screen- which there would be no photograph” digital photography steps back to the ing devices. In fact, accordingly to (Barthes 1982: 76). Since light is dir- same representational level of paint- Huhtamo: “The history of the screen ectly responsible of the chemical re- ing, a continuous movement toward fluctuates between the imagination action on film, any object which em- what Barthes called “chimeras”: rep- and the world of things. As gateways anates or filters light, manifests its resentations without the objective ref- to displaying and exchanging inform- physicality, its (reproducible) hic et erent of analogue photography. Using ation, screens are situated in the lim- nunc, in Benjamin terms. It offers an his words: inal zone between the material and undeniable proof of his presence, even Painting can feign reality without the immaterial, the real and the vir- when it is used to create abstract im- having seen it. Discourse combines

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 10 Alessio Chierico, “Self-Portrait”, photo by Alessio Chierico signs which have referents, of course, ible evidence of “reality”, photography in general, can be considered as ob- but these referents can be and are changed its original function. Like the jective registration of reality, and not most often “chimeras.” Contrary to shift provoked by perspective, digital just as a possible manifestation of it, these imitations, in Photography I can photography is provoking an opposite marked by the apparatus that depicts never deny that the thing has been trend. it, and the perception of the viewer. there (Barthes 1982 :76). Computational photography draws Nevertheless, digital ontology serves Another analogy which elapses on all these resources and allows the our discussion for opening several between painting and digital photo- visual image to create a picture of considerations about contemporan- graphy, can be found in the historical reality that is infinitely richer than eity. Because, as Evens stated: shift that was triggered by invention a simple visual record, and with this The signature of the digital is not so of perspective. As theorised by Ernst comes the opportunity to incorporate much a matter of which choices get Hans Josef Gombrich the advent of deeper levels of knowledge. It won’t made, as the digital is prepared to visual perspective in art, determined be long before photographers are admit any domain in which choice a different approach toward the needs making images of what they know, takes place. Thus it does not color its of art. Since the early visual represent- rather than only what they see (Mayes products in a particular shade [...] But ations made by the human being, the 2015). it does shape the way that colors are author intended to depict his know- However, it is important to notice chosen, the kinds of choices that are ledge about the subject of his picture. that analogues photography was not available, and most of all, the very fact After the advent of perspective (or im- immune to abstraction, as well as di- of choice as the basic maneuver of aes- mediately earlier, Giotto for instance) gital, it could be easily manipulated. thetics, ethics, and cultural production the artist started to depict what he Moreover, the whole technical appar- more generally” (Evens, 2012). “sees” (Gombrich 1960). atus and the process of developing the This is why an artistic research which Digital photography permits a large picture, was participating to the con- digs in digital ontology has been ne- freedom in the formulation of the rep- stitution and definition of the image. cessary step for developing an intent resentation, and since the referent of Thus, it is naive to believe that ana- that aims to reveal the mechanism of the picture is no more the indiscern- logue photography, or photography technology, and the politics embedded

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 11 into them. depending much on light, but it de- ory, also the image itself can alienate pends on in algorithmic constructions the referent from its true appearance. 3.2 Computational photography: and interpretations. This issue inspired two works: Hid- representation or abstraction? For example, we can consider a recent den Nude and Self-Portrait, both research in which a group of scientists made by the author in 2007. The topic Nowadays, the issues related to rep- demonstrated to be able to reconstruct of these projects relates to the onto- resentation and mystification of im- the portrait of a person, starting from logical problem of digital representa- ages become extremely complex. Since a handmade drawing. In few words, tion, looking at the human figure, his imaging technologies moved into the a deep neural network was trained to body, thus his identity. Nowadays, we digital domain, there are many new recognise realistic handmade draw- are accustomed to the representation agents that influence both the image ings (originally made by copying a of our self in the digital realm: our capturing process, and the image co- photo), and to improve their quality, avatars, our web profiles, our memor- dification/decodification (construc- reaching an almost photorealistic fi- ies, and our pictures and selfie, but tion/reconstruction). With these new delity to the original (Güçlütürk et al. what actually is the picture that de- technologies, the process of repres- 2016). picts us? entation is increasingly shifting from hardware to software. Sophisticated 3.3 Identity in digital image Hidden Nude is a print of the hexa- algorithms are in charge to recreate decimal code which composes a nude the picture, according to aesthetic val- Previously we saw that the referent in picture of the author. The real im- ues which point to attractiveness. For photography is increasingly becoming age disappears, and the code takes its instance, we can take into account the unnecessary. What does this means place. The nude picture becomes self- photographs made with smartphones: when the image of a person, that we censored by the same code that consti- despite the great achievement in redu- consider undoubtedly as a distinctive tutes it. The nudity is hidden, because cing the hardware size, keeping a de- element of his recognition and iden- nature of digital does not have any rel- cent quality of their cameras, the raw tity, is subject to the ephemerality of evant attachment with the referent of image they can produce is technically the computational image? Since the the image. The photographic transla- very poor, plenty of noise and aber- loss of the referent of the picture is a tion to digital, decomposes, demateri- rations. For this reason, there are al- lost of any evidence of the existence alizes, and decontextualizes the body, gorithms that beautify the image, cov- and appearance of its subject, the im- and its physical nature. Nevertheless, ering and exploiting the aberrations, age of a person become pure abstrac- the code can be converted again in its in order to achieve seductive images, tion. It is unable to express any sub- original form. Thus, copying all the which are entirely rebuilt and very stantial identity, or in better terms, code contained in Hidden Nude, and distant from their original raw form. the identity itself become incorpor- translating it into digital image, the The image processed by these al- ated and translated into the code of the original picture will appear again. gorithms maintains very few informa- digital picture: the unique objective tion about the scene depicted, in com- element of the representation. In our Similarly, Self-Portrait illustrates how parison to its modest original version. age, Narcissus would see his image on the representation of the self gets lost In this circumstances, the issue re- a screen, as result of the elaboration of when the image becomes digital. This lated to the referent of digital images a camera, instead then seeing his re- work consists in a photographic por- achieve its extreme point. Nowadays, flection in a pool. In this case, digital, trait of the author, which was conver- the developments of computer vision, like water, is the material that realise ted to hexadecimal code and printed, thanks to the use of techniques of ma- the fiction of the image, and that de- following the common proportions of chine learning and deep learning, fore- termines the impossibility to reach its painted portraits. Self-Portrait aims to shadows the advent of increasingly real subject. recall the painting tradition, to create radical revolution in photography. As discussed before, digital image and an ironical connection, that imagines The term “photography” itself, is los- digital photography are subjects that the format of classical painting con- ing its etymological meaning. Origin- embody the discrepancy between di- fronting the numerical essence of di- ally this word literally means: drawing gital representation and its numerical gital. Symbolically, this aspect is sup- with light, now, in computational essence. Since the referent of the di- ported by the frame used. It reiterate photography the act of drawing is not gital picture can be absolutely aleat- the paradigms of classical art, legitima

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 12 ting the status of art as recipient for that our current imaging technologies by the digital” (Evens 2012). its contents. are more based in the interpretative Paraphrasing the seminal book of so- function of the software, then in the cial psychology The Presentation of It is interesting to notice that in both light reflection of the subject (pho- Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goff- Hidden Nude and Self-Portrait the tographic referent). Thus, the rep- man, it was here questioned the issues dimension occupied by the code is resentation is becoming increasingly that incur in “the representation of self much more larger then the effective a higher form of abstraction and ob- in digital life”. This argument, used di- dimension of the original images. Ac- fuscation. Steyerl feels that this pro- gital ontology to clarify the essence of cording to the quality and dimension cess suggests a parallelism between computational image, and to exposes of the digital images, the code increase the representation in digital image, forms of mystification of contents, exponentially and to be represented and the functioning of representation and their political potential. Goffman in its printed form, it requires very concept in democratic politics. Using acknowledged the existence of a “front large physical supports. In order to re- her words: region” as a stage where people per- duce the quantity of code, to fit into The representational paradigm as- forms their masks in social contexts, the chosen format for the print, here sumes that you vote for someone who and a “back region” where the people the images has been reduced and ex- will represent you. Thus the interests are facing their own inner nature and tremely compressed. Again, this is an- of the population will be proportion- personality (Goffman 1956: 66-86). In other manifestation of the problem of ally represented. But current demo- our terms, the “front region” corres- the referent in digital ontology. cracies work rather like smartphone pond to the mimic intent of repres- photography by algorithmically clear- entation. The presumption that rep- 3.4 Representation and politics of ing the noise and boosting some data resentation is a copy of visual reality, obfuscation over other (Stayer in Jordan 2014). instead then its abstract surrogate. At In other terms, the aesthetic distor- the contrary “back region” is the truly The understanding of digital, is sub- tion that elapses between the subject essence that lies on electric impulses ject to the ontologies that are built and its algorithmic depiction, corres- and Boolean logic. When our identity over it. Any semantic layer placed by ponds to the distortion that elapses is described and informed by digital, it the interfaces, over the essential nu- between the democratic system and its is also purely reduced to this minimal meric nature of digital, imposes arbit- mediated conception. The condition essence. rary meanings. As defined by Johanna of our mediascape, still dominated by Drucker: “Ontologies are ideologies, pictures, reflects perfectly the func- ALESSIO CHIERICO through and through, as naming, or- tioning of democratic systems. dering, and parameterizing are interpretative acts that enact their view of 4 Conclusions knowledge, reality, and experience and give it form” (Drucker 2013). The Concluding, we saw how an enquiry of fluidity of digital allows producers, to digital ontology is necessary to acquire build any kind of ontology and mean- a deep understanding of the basic sub- ing embedded into the objects. This stance of most of the current cultural is done in order to support the ideo- production. The domain of digital it is logies/visions of the industries, by not confined in its electronic circuits, producing signifiers as products. This but it is the essential fluid that flows in happens in various cultural areas, thus any segment of everyday life. in various segments of digital produc- Accordingly to Aden Evens, we can- tion. Anyway if we consider again the not consider digital just as computa- peculiarities of computational digital tional logic circumscribed by the hard- photography, we can associate the ware of the machine. Differently “not forms of obfuscation of digital with only our artefacts but our bodies, our the forms of obfuscation in politics. schedules, our habits of cognition, our ways of being by ourselves and with The artist Hito Steyerl acknowledges others are now thoroughly informed

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 13 References: - Negroponte, Nicholas (2001). Essere digitali. 2nd edition. Milano: Sper- ling & Kupfer Editori. - Barthes, Roland (1982). Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. London: Cape. - Zuse, Konrad (1970). Calculating Space. MIT Technical Translation. Cambridge: MIT. - Bolter, J.D. & Grusin, R. (2002). Remediation. Competizione e integ- razione tra media vecchie e nuovi. Milano: Guerini Studio. ALESSIO CHIERICO - Drucker, Johanna (2013). “Performative Materiality and Theoretical Ap- proaches to Interface”. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 7(1). ALESSIO CHIERICO IS AN ARTIST AND RESEARCHER WITH THE- ORETICAL BACKGROUND IN CONTEMPORARY ART, DESIGN - Evens, Aden (2012). “Web 2.0 and the Ontology of the Digital”. Digital THEORY AND MEDIA STUDIES, CURRENTLY PHD CANDIDATE Humanities Quarterly, 6(2). AT INTERFACE CULTURE DEPARTMENT OF KUNSTUNIVERSITÄT LINZ (AT). IN THE LAST TEN YEARS OF ACTIVITY HE HAD MORE - Güçlütürk, Y.; Güçlü, U.; van Lier, R.; van Gerven, M. A. J. (2016) Convo- THAN SIXTY EXHIBITIONS, INCLUDING: NTAA/UPDATE (GHENT, lutional Sketch Inversion. arXiv:1606.03073 [Cs], 9 June 2016. BE) FLUX FACTORY (NEW YORK, US), MAXXI (ROME, IT), ROMA ME- DIA ART FESTIVAL, ARTELAGUNA PRIZE (VENICE, IT), ARS ELEC- - Goffman, Erving (1956). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Edin- TRONICA FESTIVAL (LINZ, AT), MNAC (LISBON, PT). burgh: University of Edinburgh.

- Goldie, Pete & Schellekens, Elisabeth (2009). Who’s Afraid of Conceptual Art?. Routledge.

- Gombrich, Ernst Hans Josef (1960). Art and Illusion. A Study in the Psy- chology of Pictorial Representation. London: Phaidon. - Huhtamo, Erkki (2004). “Elements of screenology: toward an archaeology of the screen”. ICONICS: International Studies of the Modern Image, 7: 31-82.

- Jordan, Marvin (2014). Hito Steyerl, Politics of Post-Representation. DIS. http://dismagazine.com/disillusioned-2/62143/hito-steyerl-politics-of-post-representation/ accessed on 25/07/2014.

- Kirschenbaum, Matthew (2008). Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination. Cambridge: MIT Press.

- Kittler, Friedrich (1990). Discourse Networks, 1800/1900. Stanford: Stan- ford University Press.

- Lorusso, Silvio (2015). Alessio Chierico, [e-Book] Intellectual Property – A Reference Handbook. Post-Digital Publishing Archive. http://p-dpa.net/ work/e-book-intellectual-property/ - accessed on 26/01/2016.

- Manovich, Lev. (2009). Il linguaggio dei nuovi media. 9th ed. Milano: Olivares.

- Mayes, Stephen (2015). The Next Revolution in Photography Is Coming. Time, 25 August 2015 - http://time.com/4003527/future-of-photography/ - accessed on 09/04/2016.

- McLuhan, Marshall (1994). Understanding Media. Press re-print. Cam- bridge: MIT.

- Mesrie, Manuela (2015). Art After Art: The Possibility of a Contemporary Conceptual Art Through The Theories of Joseph Kosuth. Masters Degree dissertation in Contemporary Art. London: Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 14 THE MUTANT CUTE: MEITU, THE SELFIE, AND THE REWRITING OF GLOBAL Horror of the Gaze, AfterMichaelMandiberg, 2017 of the Gaze, AfterMichaelMandiberg, Horror IDENTITIESby Patrick Lichty

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 15 In technologically-enabled society, the selfie has become curators from around the world. As these “Cute” versions the intersection between digital narcissism and fungible of my community began to circulate, questions of privacy, identity. Famous images of throngs with their backs to control of personal images, colonialism, and the politics of famous paintings and presidential candidates underscore “whiteness” began to arise. In discussing these issues in my the necessity for proving one’s existence through tagging own Facebook feed, I was reminded of the work of Sianne the moment with the photographer’s face. However, with Ngai. In Our Aesthetic Categories, Ngai discusses the medi- the rise of “augmentation” (AR-based props and ‘beautifica- ation of the “Zany”, “Cute”, and “Interesting” as obfuscating tion’) through programs like Snapchat, Meitu and FaceApp affective issues of hypercommodification, colonialization, that add props, “cutify”, and gender swap, heterogenous is- and stereotyping. Each obscures hidden agendas of objec- sues of identity politics are made evident. What are the is- tification and hidden anger. “Cuteness” is often a scrim sues relating to “beautifying”, whitening, gender swapping, for other, darker agendas with the Japanese artist Takeshi and augmenting the self-portrait, and what are the lines Murakami, whose smiling “Mr. DOB” is a post-nuclear na- between self-imposition of these roles and the inscription tionalistic reappropriation of Mickey Mouse. In the case of agendas by capital and disparate cultural norms? of Meitu, it is a double signifier for the Asian perception of paleness, and cuteness, which are distinctly different Somewhere between 2015 and 2016 my interest in di- from the Western perceptions of the aesthetics used in the gital processes and Augmented Reality had turned to fil- app (paleness, large, watering eyes, pronounced lips). It is ters and overlays in phone apps. I even saw noted curators important to consider the conflation of racial and cultural and artists posting Snapchat overlays to their feeds since tropes in play by the use of these apps. How does one cul- 2015, which began my interest in what I call ture’s digital selfie filters map onto others? the augmented selfie. From this, I did nu- Gayatri Spivak, in the Translation Studies merous experiments with these apps until HOW DOES ONE Reader, states that accuracy in translation I came upon a conversation on Facebook. CULTURE’S DIGITAL requires affect for the subject, and do these In late 2016, I came upon a Facebook con- SELFIE FILTERS MAP modes of production have these qualities. versation between Rhizome Art Director And if McLuhan’s adage of the medium ONTO OTHERS? Michael Connor and NYC-based cultural being the message is true, what can we as- theorist Nora Khan discussing identity certain is being said by Meitu remediations politics, with a picture of herself. From my of cultural identity? With Meitu, of course standpoint, seeing a Pakistani-American (admittedly she there is no affect; this is a “cutification” app created within was doing it critically in the thread) feed herself through an hypercapitalist authoritarian society that has been criti- algorithmic “Cutifying” and whitening through a Chinese cized for its aggressive personal data harvesting (but Meitu beautification app that has entirely different cultural polit- does arguably no more so than Facebook). The emergence ics left me breathless. This simple gesture made visible the of this app in Western spheres of influence conflates so proposition of postinternet social conditions supposedly many cultural tropes. Some of the notions in play are the draining any subject of meaning that I wanted to explore Anime-fication of the head to match large eyes and infantile this process through a number of methods. These would head structure as in Japanese and Korean animation. The form the body of my work, Horror of the Gaze. This would idea of kawaii or the Japanese notion of cute comes from “Cutify” a body of pirated Facebook portraits, notable his- a mix of infantilization and large eyes, etc, popularized by torical portrait-based art, and the beautification of dictat- Isamu Tezuka from inspiration of Western animators like ors in an attempted semiotic swap. This process revealed Walt Disney, and his seminal piece, Steamboat Willie. Also intercultural, identity, art historical, and political issues in play is the East Asian notion of paleness/fairness of com- that as an American, white, middle-aged, cisgender male, plexion, as well as the East Asian “kawaii” cultural practice challenge my position greatly, and I disclaim that position of popular photo sticker and selfie culture. as one of honest analysis and inquiry that I humbly present to the public. Laura Mulvey in her seminal essay, Visual Pleasure and Nar- rative Cinema, constructed the notion of the male gaze and Upon doing a few experiments after the Khan/Connor the objectification of the female body in cinematic space. conversation I decided to create The Horror of the Gaze, in However, when we are confronted with the operator and which I used Meitu to “cutify” nearly 100 artists, scholars and the subject being one and the same, what are the semiotics

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 16 in the field while the gentry retained whiteness. The East Asian notion of whiteness also maps into Southeast Asian practice of using whitening creams and the attitudes surrounding them, a recent example being a Seoul Secret ad in Thailand saying, “Just being white, you will win.” One key difference in regards to the difference between Occidental and Ori- ental notions of race versus class, or even caste. And especially in China, perhaps this is expressed in the fact that the person who can “look” white can afford the technology for them Dictator Series: Donald Trump, 2017 to augment themselves to appear so. This is very different than the con- of the post cinematic, knowing that beauty protocol caused me to wonder struction of race in the West. Race such a proposition is a book in itself? about whiteness and the notion of the as a discourse emerged in large part I would propose that in the case of “cute”. through the work of naturalist Johann Meitu, it is the technological appar- Friedrich Blumenbach. His seminal atus and panopticon of international book, On the Natural Variety of Man- neoliberal capital, ostensibly male, that BUT MORE kind, is the seed for Western racial operates the gaze. But in this case, the IMPORTANTLY, IN identity politics where he codified hegemonic force might be more sys- physiological differences and matters temic, and the gaze is a self-reflexive SOUTHEAST ASIA THE DARKER PEOPLE like beauty in terms of the natural de- machine gaze shaped by the corporate velopment of the human species. The WERE THE POOR. agendas of Meitu’s parent company, book would create scientific rationales and perhaps even the Chinese govern- THEY WERE THE for racial superiority, European co- ment? The Post-Cinematic gaze here, ONESWHO HAD lonialism, Rudolf Steiner’s theories being centered on the cute, operates TO WORK IN THE on the spiritual development of hu- on somewhat different terms. FIELD WHILE THE manity by race, eugenics, and even the Holocaust. His passage regarding The most enriching conversation GENTRY RETAINED WHITENESS the physical nature of the Georgian came from the Meituification of people, and his thought that all other Dutch artist and theorist Rosa Men- races devolved from their perfect kman, who objected to the unauthor- whiteness, hints at the core of West- ized detournement of her image and ern white supremacy and colonialism. imposition of Meitu’s rules. Although Asian notions of whiteness, according In the colonialized world, the ideas of the conversation problematizing to Kepnes, are not historically linked race, fitness and control would arbit- ownership, agency, and personal col- to race in the Western sense, but more rarily be passed on those in power, onization by others certainly ranged closely to matters of class or caste. In such as the Belgians’ creation of the from the nature of the work to those Thailand, there is a creation story myths between the Hutus and Tsut- of Facebook owning user content, of people being cooked too little or sis in Rwanda, eventually leading to something else arose. The idea of a too much, and those who are lightly that genocide. Therefore, although white cisgender American Male im- colored and cooked “Just Right”. But all global rationales for assigning su- posing a Cutification program on an more importantly, in Southeast Asia, periority through color is unjust, the already white Dutch female, making the darker people were the poor; social context for each appear to be her whiter, and imposing an alien they were the ones who had to work highly different.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 17 Horror of the Gaze: Rosa Menkman, 2017

tering, created vastly different results. The starkest trans- The steps after the initial Horror series took different crit- formation was After Walker Evans in that the black and ical methods to look at the nature of meaning and colon- white photo was colorized, the abject woman of the Amer- ization of the gaze under different regimes. Does, as it has ican Depression was given lipstick, blue eyes and placed in been argued by Provan, internet culture drain the meaning an angelic situation, inferring a sense of peace. The famous from everything? My next steps were to map “Cute” selfie Kahlo photo, seemed the most believable as a person with culture onto classic portrait-based art, such as Sherrie Lev- some agency who might have seemed possible to do such a ine’s After Walker Evans, Steve McCurry’s photo of Afghan thing. Of the three, the Gula photo, due to its context, was refugee Sharbat Gula, and a classic photo of Frida Kahlo. most supportive of the turn towards meaninglessness as it did take a powerful moment in time and drain its semiotic In asking, had the technology would have existed, would value. The third series took famous dictators and put them the subjects have subjected themselves to this sort of fil- through that visual regime – the result was to make Stalin

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 18 into a mere meme. In my opinion, a logical extension would have been to take other symbols of evil and cutify them, and this quickly became a banal exercise.

In regards to “cuteness”, Ngai writes about the infantilization of the subject, as the Anime character’s head typically is more V-shaped like a baby, with larger eyes. This infantilization establishes a power relation of lov- ing condescension to the “cutified” subject, even if to put it in a parent/ child relationship so that we identify more closely with the subject of the Example: Matt Rappoport After Cutification photo. This was certainly the case with the portraiture and classic dic- particular project night not be appro- tator (Stalin/Hitler) pieces. priate as a cultural barometer, would anyone respond to radically different For the Karachi Art Summit, I sug- situations, like the obviously absurd, gested an intervention called “Make “Make Pyongyang Cute Again”? Karachi Cute Again.” It was a play on the Trump slogan, “Make America This is a “postcard” from a body of Great Again”, as I felt I was coming work in progress, as of this point in into this event as yet another pro- time, programs like Meitu embed and reveal cultural stereotypes and scriptive American, coming to tell PATRICK LICHTY the Pakistanis “something” from my normative positions that create odd position. Through framing the pro- mappings across cultures. The Hor- PATRICK LICHTY (B.1962) IS A TECHNO- ject in this fashion, I was ironically ror of the Gaze, in looking back into LOGICALLY-BASED CONCEPTUAL ARTIST, suggesting that Karachi was somehow machine regimes such as Meitu, ex- WRITER, INDEPENDENT CURATOR, AN- plores differing level of affect through IMATOR FOR THE ACTIVIST GROUP, THE “not cute” and we needed to “restore YES MEN, AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF IN- its cuteness” (if such an enterprise was contextualizing augmentation of the selfie in wildly different contexts. TELLIGENT AGENT MAGAZINE. HE BEGAN ever needed). And also, with Pakistan SHOWING TECHNOLOGICAL MEDIA ART Taken out of the everyday frame, being in a roughly central Occidental/ IN 1989, AND DEALS WITH WORKS AND Oriental cultural position, I was curi- selfie augmentation software mutates WRITING THAT EXPLORE THE SOCIAL ous about the responses, I would get the subject, bending semiotic relations RELATIONS BETWEEN US AND MEDIA. VENUES IN WHICH LICHTY HAS BEEN to the project. Although the repres- between regional identity politics, ob- INVOLVED WITH SOLO AND COLLABOR- entational issues were deemed ques- jectification of the subject/self, personal control, and corporate agendas/ ATIVE WORKS INCLUDE THE WHITNEY & tionably problematic for Karachi, a TURIN BIENNIALS, MARIBOR TRIENNIAL, marketing. All of these issues are en- few selfies that I obtained from Face- PERFORMA PERFORMANCE BIENNIAL, book visitors to my other installa- demic if the postinternet condition, ARS ELECTRONICA, AND THE INTERNA- tion, Draw the Karachi Internet, created and programs like Meitu lay bare the TIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE ELECTRONIC near-Bollywood scenarios, which social face of the networked self ARTS (ISEA). HE ALSO WORKS EXTENS- IVELY WITH VIRTUAL WORLDS, INCLUD- wasn’t altogether unexpected. Of in- PATRICK LICHTY ING SECOND LIFE, AND HIS WORK, BOTH terest here was that Meitu seemed SOLO AND WITH HIS PERFORMANCE ART to create a gestalt that was culturally GROUP, SECOND FRONT, HAS BEEN FEA- distinct from my study of Chinese TURED IN FLASH ART, EIKON MILAN, AND and European subjects. Although this ARTNEWS HTTP://WWW.VOYD.COM/

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 19 Cyhead THE POST HUMAN CYBORGIAN BODY: DITHERING BETWEEN THE REAL AND THE VIRTUAL

by Claire Burke

“I am not that set of limbs I/Glitch 2016 is Ireland’s leading Di- Janna Kemperman and Kevin Freeney called the human body” gital Arts Festival that presents artists of Algorithm and CLU. Consisting of who work with media and techno- a mix of 3d software and projection René Descartes logy. ‘Dither’ is a two-part installation mapping, this installation includes a based between two galleries, Rua Red, varied skillset. A blend of technolo- Tallaght, and Rathmines based Mart gical and artistic skills, ‘Dither’ poses Art Gallery. It is not uncommon for the question of the parallels between audio visual artists to work collab- our current technological state and oratively, Dither is a pairing of artist human communication. Dithering

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 20 involves creating a pattern of screen being coming to existence inside a ma- an avatar or a coded picture – like a pixels to simulate colours that cannot chine and moving through a network .jpeg, .png, or .gif – on social media, otherwise be displayed. (Spalter, 1999) of a series of connected lines and dots. email, message services or video, The lyrics spoken with a Daft Punk etc.” (Wall, 2016) Freeney’s concerns In Mart Art Gallery, Dither I is dis- like robotic voice states “My analogue are part of the contemporary condi- played as an audio visual Installation. form and my digital self as one….in tion; human bodies living within the It uses projection mapping to engage conflict” boundaries of technology. It chal- the audience with a sense of a virtual We have witnessed a relationship de- lenges what it means to be human, or environment. It starts with a familiar velop online, one that has no physical more aptly; post human. sense of online interaction. Evok- interaction. We sense a connection ing a sense of the nostalgia through and a merging of virtual and human. The notion of a technological body is it’s terminal font choice and typing The installation comes to an end ever present in mainstream society. within an online chat room environ- when we see more recognisable hu- There is an overlapping of the human ment, we are exposed to communic- man figures. A hand eventually ap- senses with digital devices. Clarke in ation through text. The soundtrack is pears to reach out, signalling a cros- a bid to define what it is to be human, cleverly composed; in the beginning sover or perhaps a move between the suggests that the post human body is there are no voices just text, this res- real and the virtual, the physical and a body authored by it’s technologies onates with the loss of the physical non physical. (Zylinska, 2002). Through our in- human voice. Communication of the creased engagement with technolo- user is through the machine, visu- Cultural significance is articulated gical devices there is now a societal alised by text. The familiar sound of through presenting us with the shift with the technological self. Ad- typing leads to a conversation, with concept of digital medium specificity, vances have blurred the lines between the viewer witnessing each green let- through a perception of temporality humans and machines. Mc Luhan ter appearing, evoking a sense of real and a 3d sensory environment. The suggested that technology was an ex- time. viewer is reminded of our constant tension of man and had a profound interaction with networks and digital effect on human beings. He suggested The user A.McC_00 types; “How connectivity. We live under the con- that electronic media would have the do I know you are real?” SJ_123 re- ditions of interfaces, various screens, ability to reconstruct to such an extent sponds: “We are talking right now in displays and peripheral devices. We that it would alter the nature of man. the same place at the same time. We exist within an integrated structure of (Hayles, 1999) Such advances have are together here. Does that not feel networks and data. been made since, from media’s evolu- connected”? We see the relationship tion to the online, virtual and the cy- develop with A.McC_00 suggesting “I Technology is so deeply woven into borg. The age of the human is draw- want to take this one step further. It’s contemporary life, there is a knowing ing to a close and we we are entering funny I wouldn’t say this if you were sense of the self existing online. Our into the realm of the post human. here” An array of pixels crisscross current state of mind lives within a continuously on the screen to form networked society and an electronic Through our bodies we interact with hands and eventually a body and we environment. The installation exam- the world and the digital revolution are immersed into a virtual landscape ines the ways in which a body can be has caused a breakdown of physical of geometric planes. a connected net- implicated within art and technology and non-physical. Haraway described work, a series of RGB coloured lines and the discourse around how we in- the idea of the human body inter- form a grid structure to teract in the digital world. Issues such twined with technology. In 1997 she reveal a human form. as identity and human physical con- argued that within our society due to nection are explored by the artists. engagement with technology, we have An audio track then kicks in, a visual Freeney states that the two pieces all become cyborgs. rhythm echoing our being in the explore identity in the modern in- world. We hear undertones of recog- ternet age. (Wall, 2016). He suggests A cyborg is a “cybernetic organism, nisable sounds of modems, beeps dial that “the majority of people in Ireland a hybrid of machine and organism” ups and connectivity. We see a virtual communicate with each other behind (Haraway, 1991, p,149). Kunzru sug-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 21 gests that for Haraway “the realities of modern life happen to include a relationship between people and technology so intimate that it’s no longer possible to tell where we end and machines begin” (Kunzru, 1997). The evolution of humans and the development of technology are intrinsically intertwined. Hayles reminds us that is “important to recognise that the construction of the post human does not require the subject to be a literal cyborg”. (Hayles, 1999, 4) So undeniably the era of the cyborg is here.

An audio visual installation that is Handweb very relevant to contemporary conditions, Dither I is a reflection on the and prostheses. Stelarc claims that munication is lacking. We have gone current state of society. It is a creat- “The body has become profoundly beyond physical communication and ive expression of computer mediated obsolete in the intense information it is becoming less necessary to func- communication. The artists have ex- environment it has created”(Atzori tion in daily life. Perhaps at this point plored technology not just as a tool and Woolford, n.d.) As technology in time communication through the for creating art work becomes advanced, it has extended human body is not necessary. Sterlac’s like many new media our natural human claim, is that the body is obsolete. artists, but as a gate- THE CHALLENGE IS capabilities. It allows way to use the techno- TO THINK ABOUT for the enhancement “It is time to question whether a bi- of the natural human pedal, breathing body with binocular logy. Communication THE CURRENT is the transfer of in- senses within an inter- vision and a 1400cc brain is an ad- CONDITIONS OF THE active environment. equate biological form. It cannot cope formation, human ex- BODY perience is reduced to “Sensory and digital with the quantity, complexity and 1’s and 0’s. They have technologies are cre- quality of information it has accumu- used the medium in it’s own right to ating a whole new en- lated; it is intimidated by the preci- intervene artistically and open up the vironment that has the potential to sion, speed and power of technology question of what it means to be hu- override normal sensory experience and is biologically ill-equipped to cope man. It acknowledges the relevance and replace it digitally.” (O’Mahony, with its new extra terrestrial environ- and advantages of technology and its 2002, p.52) ment”. (Zylinska, 2002, p.101) effects on the communication and extension of our senses and interactive Questioning the existence that hu- The challenge is to think about the abilities. mans now have in the world, Poster current conditions of the body. Tech- states that in relation the body, in- nology has lead to a loss of a physical Artists have always experimented ternet communications have restruc- connection but has brought an exten- with technology and Dither reflects on tured it, configuring it to an online sion. Fleischmann and Strauss suggest the complicated relationship between wired body. (Zylinska, 2002) Dither that “Man is losing this head to Tech- art, technology and culture. It ques- encompasses that issue of conflict nology”. (Violante, 2015, 6) Whether tions the issue of what importance with technology and questions the ef- it is the form of an avatar or on so- do physical human bodies have in the fect that it has on our identity, bodies cial media the virtual being and the digital age today? Human bodies have and the digital depictions of ourselves. evolution of the cyborg has become already been altered through various It exposes the fact that we hide behind more valuable than our own human technologies such as medical devices avatars and that physical human com- physical form. But this does not mean

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 22 that there needs to be a physical sep- There is a shift from the need to use that obsolescence of the current hu- aration of the human body from the our bodies to communicate or experi- man body may be a fundamental con- world. Post humanism is understood ence interaction. Our machines are an dition to exist in a rapidly evolving as a claim that humans are no longer extension of ourselves, we are rapidly post human technological civilisation. sufficient. relying on them and to a point where Perhaps the artist does not need to be they have become apart of us. Dither present. “The individual is already an obsolete addresses networked telecommunica- CLAIRE BURKE organism, useful...but left in the tion and implications it may have on CLAIRE BURKE background, infrastructure of a hu- human machine relationships. We manity in which “evolution” is no have become conditioned to online CLAIRE IS A DUBLIN BASED ARTIST AND longer interested”. (Stiegler, 2009, and virtual experiences where are MEMBER OF ORMOND STUDIOS. HER p.95) bodies are present but our minds are PRACTICE EXPLORES THE INTERDIS- not. Hayles suggested in 1996 that our CIPLINARY AREA OF ART AND TECH- In the shift of human to post human, bodies are still material and necessary NOLOGY. HER RESEARCH EXPLORES COMPUTATIONAL CREATIVITY AND NEW will the human be no longer suffi- for survival on the planet, our one AESTHETICS WITHIN CONTEMPORARY cient? Technology’s role has given and only home. (Moser and MacLeod, ART. A GRADUATE OF THE INSTITUTE OF humans computer mediated com- 1996) ART, DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY, CLAIRE munication, the creation of online HOLDS A HIGHER CERTIFICATE IN AU- connectivity. In relation to advances Are we already cyborgs? Ever more DIO VISUAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGY, BACH- with the virtual, Hayles argues that relevant is Haraway’s question “Why ELOR OF ENGINEERING IN DIGITAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGY AND BACHELOR OF ARTS everything is becoming virtual includ- should our bodies end at the skin?” IN VISUAL ART PRACTICE AND IS CUR- ing physical contact, so why shouldn’t (Haraway, 1991, 178) We need to re- RENTLY STUDYING MA ART IN THE CON- our bodies become virtual to? (Moser think the relationship between man TEMPORARY WORLD AT NATIONAL COL- and MacLeod, 1996) and technology. It may be the case LEGE OF ART AND DESIGN.

References: - Atzori, Paolo. and Woolford, Kirk. (n.d.). Extended-Body: Interview with Stelarc. [online] Web.stanford.edu. Available at: http://web.stanford.edu/ dept/HPS/stelarc/a29-extended_body.html [Accessed 6 Jan. 2017]. - Bell, David. and Kennedy, Barbara. (2000). The cybercultures reader. 1st ed. London: New York. - Druckrey, Timothy. (1999). Ars Electronica: Facing the Future: A Survey of Two Decades (Electronic culture--history, theory, practice). 1st ed. MIT Press. - Haraway, Donna. (1991). Simians, cyborgs, and women. 1st ed. New York: Routledge. - Haraway, Donna. (1991). Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,” in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature pp.149-1811. [online] Faculty.georgetown.edu. Available at: http://faculty.georgetown.edu/ irvinem/theory/Haraway-CyborgManifesto.html [Accessed 5 Jan. 2017]. - Freeney, Kevin. (2016). Dither (Documentation). [video] Available at: https://vimeo.com/173503319 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2016]. - Freeney, Kevin. and Kemperman, Janna. (2016). Dither I. [Audio Visual Installation] Dublin: Mart Art Gallery. - Gaudelius, Yvonne. and Garoian, Charles. (2001). Cyborg Pedagogy: Performing Resistance in the Digital Age. [online] Jstor.org. Available at: http:// www.jstor.org/stable/1321078 [Accessed 6 Dec. 2016]. - Hansen, Mark. (2006). Bodies in code. New York: Routledge. - Hayles, Katherine. (1999). How we became post human. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press. - Kemperman, Janna. (2016). Dither I. [online] Available at: http://www.jannakemperman.com/film#/dither/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2017]. - Kunzru, Hari. (1997). You Are Cyborg. Wired, [online] (5.02). Available at: https://www.wired.com/1997/02/ffharaway/ [Accessed 5 Jan. 2017]. - Moser, Mary Anne. and MacLeod, D. (1996). Immersed in technology. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. - O’Mahony, Marie. (2002). Cyborg. London: Thames & Hudson. - Spalter, Anne Morgan. (1999). The computer in the visual arts. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Longman - Stiegler, Bernard. (2009). Technics and Time 2 Disorientation. 1st ed. [eBook] Stanford University Press. Available at: http://www.antropologias.org/ files/downloads/2012/03/Technics-and-Time-2_Bernard-Stiegler.pdf [Accessed 8 Jan. 2017]. - Violante, Alessandro. (2015). MONIKA FLEISCHMANN & WOLFGANG STRAUSS INTERVIEW. 1st ed. [eBook] Flux. Available at: http:// fleischmann-strauss.de/resources/FLUX-Interview-with-Monika-Fleischmann-Wolfgang-Strauss-2015-by-Alessandro-Violante.pdf [Accessed 6 Jan. - Wall, Aidan. (2016). Artsdesk: Glitching Up. [online] Totally Dublin. Available at: http://totallydublin.ie/arts-culture/arts-culture-features/artsdesk-glitching-up/ [Accessed 6 Dec. 2016]. - Zylinska, Joanna. (2002). The Cyborg experiments. London: Continuum

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 23 Year in Photos 2014 - Composition Examples (Auto crop and recentering) ALGORITHMIC MEMORIES The case of “Year in Photos 2014”

by Marco Cadioli

At the end of 2014, Google sent a gift to its users: a video defined a narrative sequence and provided an edit synced titled “Year in Photos”, which told the story of their past with the music. It was an intervention that later frequently year in images. The video began with the pictures that repeated itself within the social media. Even Facebook cre- each user archived on Google+ Photos and it was generated ates short customised videos for the end of the year, for by an Artificial Intelligence that selected the best images, friendships celebration or for anniversaries, but it limits

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 24 Year in Photos 2014 - Is it a statue or the wife for the Artificial Intelligence? itself to the material that users post on it, so no one now evident, trying to highlight some mechanisms that usually notices it anymore. remain invisible to the user.

However, within the case of “Years in Photo 2014” there Auto Awesome are some elements that stimulate us to a deeper reflection about how the algorithm interferes in the representation of Everything started at the Google I/O keynote in San Fran- oneself, in particular in their intervention on photographic cisco in 2013, when Vic Gundrota, at that time VP of material and on the narrative. Google, presented a series of new photographic features of Google+. Auto Awesome (3) was among the presented As starting material, Google had the entire photographic tools that operated pictures in an automatic way and con- archive of every user: family pictures, children, private tained functions that were being proposed as a support for events and personal moments, exactly as they have been the user that found itself to manage a big quantity of im- uploaded to the cloud without any preselection by the ages, created by the almost daily use of cameras on mobile users. Moreover, there is a fact that is even more important devices. With these, the shutter click was then completely and inspired this project: some users started to share the automated, the archiving operation was simplified by the videos on Youtube, making them come out from a private cloud services and it did not require particular skills. How- view and use and offering us the possibility of a collective ever, the majority of the users was not able to operate on analysis. the materials afterward, or did not have time to select and catalog them nor to use basic photo editing softwares. The project (1) Algorithmic Memories offers some instru- ments to lead this analysis, proposing a new comparative Google, perfectly in line with these needs, offered Computer view (2) of videos belonging to different individuals in Vision Algorithms (4), which was able to select the best and order to identify similarities and recurrent themes in the clearest pictures with the correct exposition, the ones with process of standardization of the narration of oneself. Fur- friends’ faces and identified landmarks. It also introduced thermore, the model analyses a series of screenshots that systems of image recognition that cataloged the pictures isolates the moments when the logic of the system is more basing on their content, recognized common subjects like

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 25 beach, mountain, horses, sunsets, birthdays, in a constantly expanding set. test #2: it is possible to see how the entire face of the girl has been cut from Pic1 and pasted into Pic2, obtaining Pic3 Pic2, obtaining into Pic1 and pasted of the girl has been cut from face the entire see how to #2: it is possible test

It was a matter of a series of operations that went far beyond the simple archiving and that at that time started to be delegated to an Artificial Intelligence.

Composition

One of the first elements that it is worth paying attention to is the intervention of “auto crop and retargeting” applied to the selected images of “Year in Photos”. It is a matter of cropping and re-centering the pictures in the direction of obtaining a better framing that is adapted to the layout and the format of the screen.

In order to highlight this passage, we focused on the images chosen as the cover, paginated with the name of the user and the year, which could be found at the beginning of each video and, therefore, we suppose have been considered to be particularly significant by the system.

Hence, we gathered a composition logic that referred to the guideline largely adopted within the photography world and that has now shifted to the systems of “auto-composition”. It is a matter of well-known rules that could be found in any photography manual: “the rule of thirds”, “diagonal dominance”, “visual balance”, “size region”, all considered to be effective for the balance of the image and for the stim- ulation of an emotional response. It bears upon automating an aesthetic factor as the cut and

Test #3 “Smile” intervened on the sequences and chose as the base photo Pic1, where there were 6 smiles, and it modified the other six taking them respectively from Pic2 (4 smiles), Pic3 (1 smile) and Pic4 (1 smile) Pic3 (1 smile) Pic2 (4 smiles), from respectively taking them and it modified the other six 6 smiles, were there Pic1, where and chose as the base photo on the sequences intervened #3 “Smile” Test the frame of an image, preferring a subject to another, de-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 26 ciding what is important and what could be cut, therefore introducing a parameter of computational aesthetics able to numerically define which would be the best results for the human eye and for inspiring the correct emotive response in the viewer.

From the analyzed covers, we detected how the application, on a large scale of a process of “auto-crop and retargeting”, would have taken towards an evident standardization of the image, which interfered in the representation of oneself and tended to impose a mood aligned to all the stories. It is “Year in Photos 2014” reposted on YouTube (No views ) to be underlined how this process was not just applied to the covers, but also is very common, precisely to capture of being sure that in the shot sequence to the majority of the images in the different expressions, yet it may hap- there were no images where the sub- videos. The pictures were systemat- pen that the subject has a better smile jects were all smiling at the same time. ically cut and re-centered to be adap- in the first picture but a better pose in “Smile” systematically re-matched the ted to the template of the slide show the second, where it does not smile. pictures of the sequence to create the that alternated a series of fixed layouts In this case, “Smile” would extract the one where everybody was smiling, where the images were put. smile from the first picture and paste even in groups with twelve subjects. it onto the second, proposing the res- This process generated the picture Moreover, it is important to remem- ult as a better picture. of a situation that has never really ber that the cover image was automat- happened - it violated the noema of ically selected by the AI without any In particular, among group photos, photography itself, according to Ro- indication of the user. The parameters people usually try to picture the per- land Barthes: “Has Been”- it inserted utilized for the selection of the “Pic- fect situation, when everybody is smil- an image of a possible, desirable event ture of the Year” for each user was not ing at the same time. That situation is among the others, that was supposed declared, yet it was always presumably considered so important that, since be better and that we would have liked portraits of the user itself, often with the 40’s, the classic “say cheese” has to happen but that, in reality, never its friends, all smiling. Obviously, been introduced: it naturally takes the really did. The picture, so remixed, there were exceptions and we do not subjects to smile in sync. Even in the was considered to be better: it was know if the recipient liked the choice, case of group photos “Smile” analyzed then accepted by the user, it passed the as in the case of a family portrayed the pictures of a sequence, extracted selection of the Artificial Intelligence, while being around a shopping cart in the best smiles and re-matched them became the cover of the video of the a supermarket aisle. in a new photo, where every subject memories of the year, it was spread, was smiling at the same time. according to the mechanisms of the I performed some tests to strengthen circulation of images within the web, Smile the system and analyze the results, came out from the social media and it Among the series of tools that was having the possibility of arranging entered in the personal and collective included in Autoawesome, “Smile” de- both original photos and modified history. serves a certain attention. It added ones in order to isolate the areas of in- smiles where they were not, literally tervention. If we did not see the original, we could moving them from a picture to an- not tell how many of these smiles are other. The manner of shooting dif- In each group, the subjects were in- real and how many have been sub- ferent portraits of the same subject vited to smile alternately, to the extent stituted; soon not even who shot the

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 27 picture would remember exactly what by the rigid repetition of transitions “Sometimes Autoawesome is actually happened that day. Even this opera- between an image and another, by the kind of awesome.”, “It did it again. - tion has evident involvement when identical rhythm, by the perfect syn- Aw, Google surprised me with an it is massively applied to thousand of chronism of the video with the music auto-awesome movie! I love it!” users because it models the collective and by the harmonious pace of the memories that will tell of a “Smile” era. colors. Indeed, is true that many other applic- ations offered analogous functions to The video The story of each one’s life was equally those analyzed, there were Apps for distributed among journeys, friends, auto cropping, Apps to paste the face Years in Photos 2014 was essentially outdoor activities, parties, selfies, sea on other subjects, sophisticated soft- a slideshow that alternated full-screen waves, sunsets, always with a smile. ware of auto editing, however, they images to compositions of two or were always effects that needed to be three pictures, using the same layout, A gift voluntarily selected and applied, with with the occasional addition of short an informed action and some control video sequences. There were four When each user watched its own parameters. In the case of Google+, principal formats which differed one video did not have any information the intervention automatically and another by their duration: 50”, 45”, 43” about the others, which were identic- often unconsciously happened within and 37” and the images were synced ally generated. The user found it ori- the act of backing up oneself’s photos with a small number of repeated ginal, made it its own and completed it into the cloud archives because the soundtracks. by adding his memories. The produc- system was set by default (5) and sym- tion process remained invisible and bolically the intervention happened The materials to be edited were subliminal. right when the data was memorized. chosen among the events of the year There was something like an overlap- that were thought to be significant For an audience without any know- ping among the memory registration for each user, based on the informa- ledge about how to use basic content inside our mind, that caused a series of tion associated with the photos. The creation tools, a video choices, a selection of system considered the date and the that was edited, titled, THE SYSTEM significant moments, place of the picture and it was able synced with music and CONSIDERED THE opinions and the work to determine whether the photo was already online, ready of the software that DATE AND THE shot indoor or during a journey; it to be shared on the selected the images, looked for the faces of the friends that social media, became PLACE OF THE optimized them and appeared more frequently and it could an appreciated gift PICTURE. IT LOOKED edited them. understand if the picture was a selfie. and it was not seen as FOR THE FACES OF The photos were already automatic- invasive. The market- THE FRIENDS THAT It was a parallel work ally organized with thematic tags like ing strategy of Google APPEARED MORE that tended to make sea, mountain, outdoor, indoor, birth- presented it precisely FREQUENTLY AND IT memories appear and day, sport and these categories were as a gift and the fact the pictures, more COULD UNDERSTAND used to build the story. The “holidays” that we did not know similar to glazed mo- event, for example, was inserted into a if and when it would IF THE PICTURE WAS ments than to the lived precise moment of the narrative, even have been sent to us A SELFIE reality itself, in a story in videos of different users, creating a accentuated the sur- that was emphasized, further level of homogenisation. The prise effect, almost like a relished care idealized, rewritten in arbitrary se- same happened for the “night out with that was reserved for us. quences of sense, determined by an friends” moment or for a fast sequence Artificial Intelligence. It did not mat- of portraits, or for children faces that The messages which followed the ter if within this passage there were were also included in a clear moment photos that the users shared on the inserted moments that never really of the video. The result was a strong social networks underlined this pos- happened, as the analysis of “Smile” predominance of the format on the itive attitude: “Thanks to Google underlined. The tone had to be “Awe- content and the video was typified for the Auto Awesome treatment!”, some” and even the banalest images,

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 28 the random clips, the scenes that were everything but epic, would have been References: treated as they were “Awesome”. 1-The first version of Algorithmic Memories was exhibited in May 2015 at Link Cabinet, an The analysis of the case of “Years in Photos 2014” allowed us to realize the strati- exhibition project by Matteo Cremonesi for the fication of the interventions that the algorithms were operating on the contents. Link Art Center (http://linkcabinet.eu/). It was This happened in 2014, in a still experimenting phase of the application of Arti- a webpage with two paired videos directly selec- ficial Intelligence to the organization and elaboration of personal photographic ted among the uploaded videos on Youtube. materials and it was the first step on a path that is rapidly evolving, naturally in- filtrating inside our processes of representation and storytelling. We had our 50 2-We suggest the viewing of the following video associated with the reading of this seconds of celebrity, it does not matter if then they will be left with zero views. text: Algorithmic Memories - https://vimeo. com/213641449

3-Creations was made by Auto Awesome while MARCO CADIOLI maintaining many of the previous functions and adding new ones and it is part of the contemporary archiving system Google Photos.

4-Computer vision is an interdisciplinary field that deals with how computers can be made for learning from digital images. Computer vision tasks include methods for acquiring, processing, analyzing and understanding digital images.

5-“Auto Awesome is on by default” Google de- clares. The elaboration of the images automatically happened on pictures that were chosen by Google itself. The user received the edited picture and could save it or delete it.

MARCO CADIOLI

MARCO CADIOLI HAS FOCUSED HIS RE- SEARCH ON IMAGES THAT MATERIALIZE ON COMPUTER SCREENS, BLURRING THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN REAL AND VIRTUAL. THE NET IS THE TERRITORY OF MARCO CADIOLI’S EXPLORATIONS, WITH THE ANALYTICAL EYE OF THE PHO- TOGRAPHIC MEDIUM SINCE THE EARLY 2000S. HE HAS EXHIBITED AT NETSPACE, MAXXI, ROME 2007; ATOPIC FESTIVAL, PARIS 2009; FOTOGRAFIA, MACRO TEST- ACCIO, ROME 2010; NEOLUDICA, BIEN- NALE DI VENEZIA 2011; AFK, CASINO LUXEMBOURG 2011; BYOB, MUSEO PECCI MILAN 2012; INTERACCESS ELECTRONIC MEDIA ARTS CENTRE, TORONTO 2013. HE IS A LECTURER AT THE ACCADEMIA BELLE ARTI DI BRERA, MILANO AND AC- CADEMIA SANTAGIULIA DI BRESCIA. HTTP://WWW.MARCOCADIOLI.COM/ We would like to hope that it was a mistake of the Artificial Intelligence in looking for the best moment of the year

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 29 NETWORKED CONNECTED MEMORY The New York Times, ‘Portraits of Grief’ from: A Nation Challenged (2001). Microfilm print collected from the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands newspaper catalogue (2012) catalogue of the Netherlands newspaper Bibliotheek, National Library the Koninklijke from collected print (2001). Microfilm A Nation Challenged of Grief’ Times, ‘Portraits from: York The New by Patty Jansen

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 30 The past has become remarkably ad- Mediating Memory (a.o.) point out,collective memory justable is mediated through rituals,cere- Ironically, one of the most fun- monial commemorations and mass The digital network allows users to damental aspects to the abstract media texts. Examples are a nations actively and simultaneously produce and complex concept of collective half mast flag as a sign for mourning and reproduce their and other ver- memory is that its context is always which is performed on specific dates sions of a collective past. Collective developing and open to meaning. to commemorate specific events or memories are open to entire com- Where memory relates to our iden- performed right after specific events munities and their form has become tity, collective memory relates to our to show grief and respect, the ‘Dod- as fluid and in flux as their traditional national or community identity. “We enherdenking’ (Remembrance Day) concept inherently is. A generative are in need of a narrative that binds on the 4th of May in the Netherlands, multi-memory is created, in which us in a uniting feeling, a togetherness where two minutes of silence at eight the browser is used as a collective – the feeling that we are not alone in o’clock in the evening is contributed memory-tool, providing the possibil- this.”, Carolyn Kitch writes in Mourn- to commemorate those who died for ity to react and upload real-time. We ing in America”: ritual, redemption, ‘our’ freedom in the WW II and the can write our past for the future to and recovery in news narrative after special supplement of the Dutch news- come from our homes, in our chairs, September 11 (2005). This nation paper Algemeen Dagblad in July 2014 at our desks. By circulating images and identity can survive and to commemorate the image sequences online, the image re- evolve overtime, Kitch THE COLLECTIVE victims of the MH17 peats itself and comes back again. explains, meaning con- MEMORY DEPENDS airplane crash. An- tent-wise, it can and will other significant ex- HEAVILY ON The collective memory is embedded in change, if only because ample of such mass the spreading and repetition of these of the ever changing MEDIATION. ITS media texts is the creations. They become a collective collective. However PRESENCE AND awarded section of memory tool and simultaneously, a abstract it may seem, INFLUENCE CAN collective representation. Users insert collective memory does ONLY BE DISCERNED The New York Times a bit of themselves into the production takes on corporeal form THROUGH THEIR during the aftermath and send it across the web for oth- in means of memorials, ONGOING USAGE of the 9/11 attacks, ers to use and commemorate. Here, museums and lives on in called A Nation memory is literally figuratively on the the minds of the people Challenged which move; images and videos are posted who feel aligned with this specific ran till December 31 2001, but will on various websites to show the user’s memory. The collective memory de- remain indefinite on www.nytimes. concern with the collective memory. pends heavily on mediation. Its pres- com and played an important part in As the concept of collective memory ence and influence can only be dis- the nation’s mourning process by por- is in flux, networks are constantly cerned through their ongoing usage, traying victims in a very personal and in flux, they do not fall silent. Geert Motti Neiger (a.o.) write in On Me- honouring way. [img 01] This section Lovink already stresses this point in dia Memory: Collective Memory in a is a very good example of what we Networks Without A Cause (2011); New Media Age (2011), it needs pro- call public memory – an intersection the web has no memory, it does not duction and performance, since we of official memory by institutions and store – how are we able to understand cannot actually posses this certain mo- vernacular memory, which represents all of this information when its con- ment in history we try to remember. almost literally the voice of the people text is always in transition? Memory We need to mediate to remember. – you could say, the individual experi- and commemoration, official and in- This is where Pierre Nora’s concept of ence of a collective memory. The web dividual memory now co-exist in the Les Lieux de Mémoire comes to mind; has shown to be open to combinations ever changing network. the places of memory, such as physical of official and vernacular memory Can we make sense of the merging of monuments, which are built with its such as for example the german on- these ever changing concepts in order main purpose to prevent the loss of line magazine SPIEGEL where online to design our past and present into the our shared memory and in this way, users can submit articles on German future? stand apart from history. As Neiger history and TIME Magazine’s Por-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 31 Screenshot website TIME Magazine’s ‘Portraits of Resilience’ 2011 (Retrieved May 7th, 2017) traits of Resilience from 2011 where – a dynamic agency, with no delay generated. “History is first organised survivors, family members, US offi- between memory and the present. according to the availability of visual cials and the President share their per- Archive and memory become meta- material”, Castells writes, “then sub- sonal stories of 9/11 on video. [img phorical; a function of transfer pro- mitted to the computerized possibil- 02] However, more and more users cesses.”, which Ernst describes as an ity of selecting seconds of frames to circulate and share their own cre- economy of circulation – permanent be pieced together, or split apart, ac- ations of a certain collective memory. transformations and updating. There cording to specific discourses.”. His- are no places of memory, Ernst states, torical static time, the narrative, the Temporality there are simply urls. In other words; chronological ordering we all seem digital memory is built from its archi- to depend on, meets digital media On the web and digital interfaces, a tecture, it is embedded in the network temporality. In Castells’ theory this is memory is generated which moves and constituted from how it links also influenced by the maker and its back and forth between past, present from one to another. The dynamics of interpreter: “The user-producer and and future. It shapes a complex the network, history and the collect- user-consumer organise information, memory, where in the shaping we ive have fallen into each other, some- perception and expression by their lose memory by deleting, uploading, thing we can start to rethink through impulses, distorting the historical or- producing and reproducing over and Manuel Castells’ concept of the space dering of chronological events and over again and at the same time, gain of flows where humans, computers become arranged in time sequences a collective memory in the form of and the network are connected, mani- based on these impulses.”. Castells de- these processes and the relations they festing eventually into something scribes this as a culture of the eternal render. Quoting Media Theorist & physical but how, where and when and the ephemeral; it reaches back and philosopher Wolfgang Ernst on his is determined by the network itself. forth the sequence of our cultural his- concept of processual memory: “The Both Ernst and Castells connect the tory of events but at the same time it is web provides immediate feedback, notion of the network to time: the transitory because each arrangement turning all present data into archival way a certain medium produces time, and sequence depend on the context entries and archival entries into data is the way experience and memory are and purpose it is constructed. We are

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 32 workers, the Statue of Liberty and two towers wreckage. Blurring and opacity techniques have been used to bled the different symbols coherently into one picture and gives a dreamy, timeless and movie-like touch. There is a repeated use of images in these collages, which stirs a feeling of recognition. The more it is repeated, the more repetition it shows in itself. This falls back on network dynamics; “Spreading leads to more spreading, ”Anna Munster writes in An Aes- thesia of Networks (2013), “The more things go viral, the more they become networked. It folds back on itself in order to replicate, it builds on itself towards one point but simultaneously generates something new; platforms, sensations and unpredictable relations.”– and a new form of collective Google Search by Image: 9/11 commemoration images, screenshot (Retrieved April 3rd , 2017) memory, as I might add. not in a culture of circularity, Castells concludes, but we find ourselves in the The image is shared and picked up by midst of undifferentiated temporality of cultural expressions. What Castells the collective: the one image is influ- tries to point out here, is that even in a time-based medium such as the digital enced by or created from the other network, present discourse in the Foucauldian sense is still just as highly influ- image. And while it is picked up, a ential. Network collective memory does not only concern time, it is time projec- little bit of the user is rendered into ted on time, over and over again. these images and send along the web. mThe image, in this sense, is always in Networked Collective Memory transition and refers back to the collective of its creation. Statements are Ernst describes the idea of a digital museum and archive cautiously as ‘non- added to keep the memory close, to places’. From Nora’s places of memory we are now moving towards digital non- invoke it. We Will Never Forget, We places of memory. In the context of networks, these non-places of memory can Will Always Remember, we try to en- be seen as processes of memory; a generative memory with its meaning, col- sure ourselves that we still possess this lective and mediation always on the move. For example, the images and GIFs of memory we try to keep near us, even 9/11 have had the opportunity to grow over the past fourteen years. When we more so in the overwhelming quant- compare it’s size and content to a much more ‘fresh’ and ‘smaller’, yet still very ity of the web. What is created here, political trauma like the crash of MH17, we can see that a development of size is a collective monument spread along and content has taken place overtime. Not only has the web become a primary urls, always open to individual addi- medium to our contemporary existence over the past decade, the content has tions, interaction and loss and where also evolved in a much more symbolised content, instead of only news reporting the actual mediation, the actual col- and photo’s of the wreckage or places where the disaster took place. There is lective memory, lies in the repetition the collage-image, which appears in large amounts on the web, but in content and sharing of this mediation. We are do not differ very much but still have very subtle user-additions.These collages looking at a digital Lieu de Mémoire often follow banner, GIF and movie-like aesthetics; shorts texts and strong sym- –obviously, we are in need of a new bols. In many examples, the burning towers, the American flag and the Amer- definition. ican Eagle are combined into one picture. Variations contain photo’s of rescue

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 33 Designing Time Acknowledgements: logy (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013), Kobo References: We have only just tackled the idea of “Networked Collective Memory” has been published before on invitation by visual culture and __Castells, Manuel. The Rise of the Network So- the places of memory and now we critical graphic design platform Open Set in ciety. West Sussex: Wiley and Blackwell, [1996] have to move our attention to their graphic design summer school reader 2016 2010. memory developing and fading at a called Memories of the Future and on invita- __Donk , André. “The Digitization of Memory: much higher speed in a network that tion by graphic designer and researcher Stefan Blessing or Curse? A Communication Science renders relations and experiences Schäfer for his artistic publication I Am Become Perspective.” Presented at the Media in Trans- in a way we are only beginning to Digital Death, The Destroyer of Worlds which ition Conference “MIT6: Stone and Papyrus, was launched during Dutch Design Week 2016 Storage and Transmission”, Massachusetts In- understand. In both concepts, time as well as published online on Schäfer’s platform stitute of Technology, Boston (2009): 1 – 17. is everything. Collective memory Digital Necropolis, focussing on the idea of di- __Ernst, Wolfgang and Jussi Parikka (ed.). Di- sets out to connect people from the gital afterlifes and exploring ways of memoral- gital Memory and the Archive. Minneapolis and present to people and events from the ising these afterlifes. London: University of Minnesota Press, 2013. past in order to built future memory. http://www.openset.nl/reader/ __Kitch, Carolyn. “Mourning in America: ritual, Digital time, in comparison to static http://stefanschafer.net/ redemption, and recovery in news narrative after time as presented by historical writ- September 11.” Journalism Studies Vol. 4 (2) (2003): 213 – 224. ing, is an inherent temporal concept. Note: __Lovink, Geert. Networks Without a Cause: There is the possibility to publish im- 1 - - Geert Lovink, Networks Without a Cause: A Critique of Social Media (Cambridge and A Critique of Social Media. Cambridge and mediately and what is uploaded can be Malden: Polity Press, 2011). Malden: Polity Press, 2011. altered minutes later, sometimes lost 2 - Carolyn Kitch, ”Mourning in America”: __Munster, Anna. An Aesthesia of Networks: forever. With the possibility of the ritual, redemption, and recovery in news nar- Conjunctive Experience in Art and Technology. public to be co-writers, designers and rative after September 11,’ Journalism Studies Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013. __Neiger, Motti, Oren Meyers and Eyal Zand- editors of collective memory, another Vol. 4 (2) (2003): 213 – 224. berg. On Media Memory: Collective Memory in memory is generated, which is consti- 3 - Motti Neiger, Oren Meyers and Eyal Zand- berg, On Media Memory: Collective Memory a new Media Age. Basingstoke and New York: tuted solely out of the sum of uploads, in a New Media Age (Basingstoke and New Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. repetition, edits and deletions of its York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 3. __Nora, Pierre. “Between Memory and History.” users; a transformative memory with 4 - Pierre Nora, “Between Memory and His- Representations No.26 (1989): 7 -24. its context always being processed. As tory,” in: Representations No.26 (1989): 7 -24. __TIME Magazine. “Beyond 9/11: Portraits of designers and researchers, it becomes 5 - Motti Neiger, Oren Meyers and Eyal Zand- Resilience.” Accessed May 7, 2017. http://content.time.com/time/beyond911/ apparent that it is just about time we berg, On Media Memory: Collective Memory design our relation towards time. Are in a New Media Age (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 3. we makers, interpreters, conservat- 6 - André Donk, “The Digitization of Memory: PATTY JANSEN ors, archivists, observers, construc- Blessing or Curse? A Communication Science ters, are we all or maybe we seek to Perspective,” (Presented at the Media in Trans- PATTY JANSEN (NL) HOLDS A MASTER’S forget? As designers and researchers, ition Conference “MIT6: Stone and Papyrus, DEGREE IN ARTISTIC RESEARCH FROM we have to distinguish ourselves from Storage and Transmission”, Massachusetts In- THE UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM. IN the memory creating crowd in order stitute of Technology, Boston, April 24 - 26, HER RESEARCH AND ART PRACTICE, HER 2009): 1 – 17. OBSESSION FOR REMEMBERING/COM- to envision and shape future ‘better 7 - TIME Magazine, “Beyond 9/11: Portraits of MEMORATION (DERIVED FROM PIERRE times’. Resilience.” Accessed May 7, 2017.http://con- NORA’S LES LIEUX DE MÉMOIRE) AND TY- tent.time.com/time/beyond911/. POGRAPHY LEADS HER INTO TRYING TO PATTY JANSEN 8 - Wolfgang Ernst, Jussi Parikka (ed.), Digital GRASP THE EVER CHANGING CONCEPT Memory and the Archive (Minneapolis and OF COLLECTIVE MEMORY BY ANALYSING, London: University of Minnesota Press, 2013), DECONSTRUCTING AND QUESTIONING 97-99, 120, 138. ITS MANY REPRESENTATIONS THROUGH 9 - Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network MEDIA SUCH AS PRINTED MATTER, THE Society (West Sussex: Wiley and Blackwell, DIGITAL NETWORK AND INSTITUTIONS. [1996] 2010), Xxxi – xxxii. IN DOING SO, JANSEN IS HIGHLY CON- 10 - Ibidem, 491 – 495. CERNED WITH THE PAST, PRESENT AND 11 - Ibidem, 491 – 492. FUTURE AS CONCEPTS OF TIME AND HOW 12 - Ibidem, 491 – 492. THESE TERMS ARE NEGOTIATED, PER- 13 - Anna Munster, An Aesthesia of Networks: FORMED AND EXPERIENCED AS WHAT WE Conjunctive Experience in Art and Techno- CALL OUR HISTORY TODAY.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 34 Charlotte Warne Thomas in residence at the Window Space, London. LIMITACTION (2015), Photograph by Margarida Brôco Amorim MOVING OUTSIDE FIXED BOUNDARIES: … ‘IN RESIDENCE’?

by Miriam La Rosa

‘[…] absolute hospitality requires that I open up my home and that I give not only to the foreigner […], but to the absolute, unknown, anonymous other, and that I give place to them, that I let them come, that I let them arrive, and take place in the place I offer them, without asking of them either reciprocity (entering into a pact) or even their names. […] Nowadays, a reflection on hospitality presupposes, among other things, the possibility of a rigorous delimitation of thresholds or frontiers: between the familial and the non-familial, between the foreign and the non-foreign, the citizen and the non-citizen, but first of all between the private and the public.’ (1) - Jacques Derrida, 2000

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 35 Introduction and mixing cultures, in a condition of reduced physical space and accelerated constant shifting and movement. In virtual time, encourages solipsism – This year’s Whitney Biennial will be this scenario, the definition of ‘indi- and a pressing demand for community remembered for the firestorm it gen- vidual’ and ‘community’ are continu- engagement? erated around notions of censorship, ally re-negotiated. Fluidity and in- diversity and, above all, identity polit- creased movement, in fact, stimulate Cultural Mobility: Individuals and ics. The epicentre was Dana Schutz’s self-identification with different cul- Communities Open Casket (2016), an abstract de- tural groups and the establishment of piction of the lynched face of (black) communities of interest in a fast, free, In the identification game of this cen- American boy Emmett Till, who was and flexible way. The Internet is a fur- tury, mobility is a strong player. It murdered in the 1950s for allegedly ther facilitator of this process, offering can be intended as the action of pro- flirting with a (white) store clerk. For the opportunity to travel easily from visional migration from one location several weeks, in the news and on so- the comfort zone of one’s own house. to another; on the one hand, a tra- cial media, the artworld was divided Such a degree of ubiquity brings the gic and enforced route – think of the between those demanding the react of identification current refugee crisis moval and destruction of the work, led to a higher level, IN THE – and, on the other, a by the words of artist Hannah Black – where complex iden- IDENTIFICATION stimulating and needed for whom ‘shame is not correctly rep- tities unfold in the GAME OF THIS process – think of the resented as a painting of a dead Black dual dimension of CENTURY, MOBILITY global marketplace, or boy by a white artist’ (2) – and those ‘online/offline’. the constant flux of in- IS A STRONG PLAYER. who defended art’s freedom of expres- dividuals re-locating for sion, its aesthetic and political values, When applying these IT CAN BE INTENDED the sake of a more ambi- beyond any form of ethnicity or race. thoughts to the rela- AS THE ACTION tious job, an alternative tionship between art OF PROVISIONAL life-experience or an op- Amongst the variety of arguments and society, the res- MIGRATION FROM portunity for exchange that were brought forward – which, idency can be seen ONE LOCATION TO and growth. Sassen has in this instance, we will not attempt as an ideal format ANOTHER widely articulated this to particularly support nor chal- to promote a con- phenomenon, linking lenge – one is relevant to frame our temporary notion the current phase of the discussion: the notion of identity is of (artistic) identity – one deriving world’s economy to ‘the ascendance now displaced by that of identifica- from the contact with specific locales of information technologies and the tion, as a colleague pointed out to me, and interest groups. Residency pro- associated increase in the mobility revisiting Foucault. Today we tend grammes, in fact, provide art practi- and liquidity of capital.’ Her ‘global to identify ourselves with cross-cul- tioners with the possibility to move, cities’ derive from ‘cross-border eco- tural references, which derive from stop and produce, as a result of re- nomic processes – flows of capital, settings as diverse as our immediate search in a distinctive environment. labor, goods, raw materials, tourists surroundings, the individuals we en- Whilst this phenomenon is not of […] emerged as a strategic site […] counter, the journeys we take and the recent elaboration (4), the present also for the transnationalization of information we are subjected to. Fou- century has furthered its expansion. labor and the formation of translocal cault described identity as a temporary Alongside the traditional understand- communities and identities.’ (Sassen, construction, i.e. people do not have ing of residency, a few attempts have 2005) According to Sassen’s analysis, a ‘real’ identity (3) within them but been made to propose a digital version mobility (of people, money, assets) is perform one (Foucault, 1979). Identi- of it, hosting the experience of art on- therefore one of the most influential fication is instead an ongoing process, line, across multiple platforms. facets of the globalised world, and the which entails the shaping of the self driving force of its systems. by means of distinctive experiences. In the light of these considerations, Globalisation has certainly amplified one may question: how can contem- Artists are not immune to the appeal the significance of the latter, with its porary art practices thrive, under the of non-stop travelling. To always be emphasis on merging, intermingling compulsion of mobility – which, in on the move is an imperative to gain

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 36 Documentation of The Narrator Is Present (2017), by Alison Ballard. Exhibited in Offline is the New Luxury at Furtherfield Gallery / live streamed on YouTube, 7-16 April 2017. Courtesy of the artist the recognition of, and identification with, an outstanding creatively adapt to multiple situations, and become his/her own practice. Cultural mobility, ‘the temporary cross-border brand. What stands against this model is the collective: collabor- movement of artists and other cultural professionals’ (5), ative practice is perceived to offer an automatic counter-model has become a buzzing word in various programmes and of social unity, regardless of its actual politics. (Bishop, 2012, 12) policies worldwide. Major art events such as biennials, triennials and documenta have built their own reputation Accordingly, ‘participation’ often turns into an overly ab- on the value of internationalism and cross-cultural rep- used resolution. Judging from the countless times such a resentation. (Green and Gardner, 2016) So, it is no coin- term reappears in press-releases, institutional websites and cidence that the popularity of many practitioners relies on artist statements, one may conclude that it has lost its true the maintenance of an active network, which consequently meaning of ‘taking part in, sharing something’, in favour impacts on their professionalisation. of the hope of attracting funding. Yet, Bishop continues, participation has the potential to ‘rehumanise a society Notwithstanding, it can be argued that both art’s profes- rendered numb and fragmented by the repressive instru- sionalisation and cultural mobility have turned ‘individual’ mentality of capitalist production.’ (Bishop, 2012, 11) So, and ‘community’ into false friends, with their connotation if on one side is the artist, with the individuality of his/her varying significantly in different contexts. In her Artifi- practice and, on the other, the community he/she has to cial Hells (2012), Bishop examines the current dichotomy engage with – a community of spectators, but also galler- between the professional artist, who is dynamic, net- ies, museums and other professionals – is the advocacy for worked and acknowledged by the market, and the notions bridging the gap possible? of collectivity and participation, which are being endorsed as the easy-way-out against the logic of capitalism: The state of hyper-reality we live in provides an additional layer of intricacy, since technological tools mediate all en- […] advanced art of the last decade has seen a renewed affirma- counters, and social interactions are constantly altered by tion of collectivity and a denigration of the individual […]. In this online connection. Thus, the definition of ‘individual’ and framework, the virtuosic contemporary artist has become the role ‘community’ changes depending on whether communica- model for the flexible, mobile, non-specialised labourer who can tion occurs in a physical or a virtual sphere. In one of his

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 37 now-centric nature of contemporary Western culture. The audio work The Narrator is Present draws attention to the role of live streaming and the dif- ficulty of distinguishing fictional narrative from truth, among the diversity of voices on the Internet. Visitors to Furtherfield gallery had the possibility to enter the room where the sound installation took place, whilst online participants could simultaneously enjoy the scene – here filled with people, there empty – listening to the audio piece via a web link. The work therefore investigates the twofold dimension of the offline and the online and how they contribute to a single reality – where some are physically together whilst others are present by remotely looking at them. From this perspective, mobility becomes also of time; the instantaneous sharing of every moment, rather than past events, severely influences the way we prioritise both experience and content and, in parallel, the way we identify as ‘individual’ or ‘community’.

Spaces of Production: The Contem- porary Artist’s Studio

Still from El Alamin (2016), Google street view interactive artwork, Elena Kendall-Aranda for Digital Artist Residency. In such a mobile landscape, virtual Courtesy of the artist spaces have no boundaries and physical ones are shrinking. Whereas we vivid rants on the role of the Inter- online has the potential of augment- have the impression of navigating net, Coupland expressed this concept ing the possibilities of identification large webs of connections, in met- flawlessly: ‘It’s very hard to imagine by playing with the notion of ‘real ropolitan areas we occupy claustro- phoning someone up and saying: time’. phobically smaller places. To a certain “Hey, come over to my house and we’ll extent, this reflects onto the spaces of sit next to each other on chairs and The exhibition Offline is the New Lux- production: artist studios are often go online together!” Going online is ury, recently on display at Further- reduced to the dimension of a desk such an intrinsically solitary act, yet it field, London (6), addresses this point or a computer screen, further turning fosters the creation of groups.’ (Coup- by asking the question ‘how is [daily into mobile platforms themselves. In land, 2016, 49) These groups, within technological mediation] affecting our his introduction to The Studio (2012), the World Wide Web, originate from experience of live-ness, presence, and Hoffmann has claimed: shared similarities, curiosities and, of time?’ A series of works by artist Al- course, likes; which would not neces- ison Ballard explores our relationship Traditionally, the studio has been con- sary produce the same congregations with the Internet, and the expansion sidered the working space of artists, a in a physical context. Moreover, the of time, space and distance, due to the place where artworks – conventionally

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 38 BEFORE DOING (2016), Photograph by Giuseppe Lana mostly paintings or sculptures – are created. When we think of almost immaterial connotation. Undeniably, this is a very an artist’s studio, many of us perhaps imagine a rather romantic contemporary construct. As long ago as 1971, artist Daniel situation with a lonely painter standing in front of a canvas in a Buren described the studio as a private and motionless en- small and barely furnished room in an attic or loft, surrounded tity, where trade and exchange would exclusively occur by splatters of paint, somewhere in Montmartre or Soho. Or the between the artist and the vested interests of a specialist grand workshops of the Dutch or Flemish old masters such as group: Johannes Vermeer, Jan van Eyck or Peter Paul Rubens, full of assistants and wealthy, aristocratic clients. Or maybe a chaotic A private place, the studio is presided over by the artist-resident, and noisy place filled with eccentric characters – a mixture of since only that work which he desires and allows to leave his stu- an advertisement agency, film studio and nightclub, like Andy dio will do so. Nevertheless, other operations, indispensable to the Warhol’s Factory. [However] The moment when the grip of tra- functioning of galleries and museums, occur in this private place. ditional media such as painting and sculpture THE IMPACT OF For example, it is here that the art critic, the weakened, the studio in its classic sense began to exhibition organiser, or the museum director MOBILITY HAS disappear as well. (Hoffmann, 2012, 12) or curator may calmly choose among the works INDEED OPENED presented by the artist those to be included in To extend on Hoffmann’s line of thoughts, a MORE DOORS, FROM this or that exhibition, this or that collection, great number of artists have superseded the A SOLO STUDIO this or that gallery. The studio is thus a con- devotion to medium-specificity, towards ENDEAVOUR TO A venience for the organizer: he may compose his an instrumental use of multiple mediums POST-STUDIO GROUP exhibition according to his own desire (and not – and the engagement with digital tools; in MODEL that of the artist, although the artist is usually parallel, concepts such as fragmentation, perfectly content to leave well enough alone, sat- hybridisation and acceleration have become isfied with the prospect of an exhibition). Thus recurrent within international exhibitions. Hence, the stu- chance is minimized, since the organizer has not only selected dio space, generally associated with a place of fabrication the artist in advance, but also selects the works he desires in the and, romantically, with a place of creation, can now also studio itself. The studio is thus also a boutique where we find be seen as a place of network, to the point of gaining an ready-to-wear art. (Buren, 1971, 52)

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 39 ways and exits and its own lines of flight. realised projects’ during a month-long This view of the studio as a sort of (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987, 21) residency at Five Years, London. We commercial repository, a ‘stationary’ departed from the consideration that, place, where works are judged and Based on this parallelism, a rhizomatic whilst the studio is the place where then hopefully sold to museums and studio – ‘that which 1) operates out- thoughts are formulated and evolve, private collectors, is not fully exhaust- side an institutional framework; 2) is the inevitable separation between the ive. As Buren himself confessed at the always a temporary event; 3) operates artistic process and the final result im- conclusion of his text, without proper only from the middle; 4) sends out plies that not all ideas translate into acknowledgement of the studio, art- off‐shoots; and 5) has multiple entry- finished works (7). Recollecting So- works would be deprived from their ways’ (McMeans, 2014) – pinpoints crates’ predilection for active dialogue, most vital characteristic and essence, the predominance of an interdiscip- as the only way to foster knowledge, which lie in the process of making. linary and not hierarchical approach we engaged in interminable brain- This highlights the importance of towards the evolution storming sessions and such spaces of production that, des- of art practices, as op- MOBILE STUDIOS FOR conversations. The pite their mutable character – today posed to that of con- A COMMUNITY OF studio – which at times not necessarily confined within the ventional art institu- ARTISTS RAPRESENT happened to be a couch perimeter of four walls – remain cru- tions. In other words, THE CONTEMPORARY at the artist’s house, cial for the development of art systems mobile studios for a EVOLUTION OF THE others a rented car and practices. The impact of mobility community of artists transporting objects MOST TRADITIONAL has indeed opened more doors, ‘from a – a community of in- and thoughts across solo studio endeavour to a post‐studio terests – represent the SPACE OF the city – became a group model’ – as McMeans (2014) ar- contemporary evolu- PRODUCTION platform for discus- gues. According to her research, there tion of the most tra- sion: the residence of is a growing tendency for artists to de- ditional space of production. An or- a discursive, collaborative experience, velop joint studio practices, as specific ganisation that gives great importance which would inform the realisation of to residencies, which meet the needs to the convivial aspect of the studio is an idea. With this in mind, mobility – of the dynamism and spatial-tem- Delfina Foundation, London. Active in its pure meaning of movement and poral fluidity previously described. In from 2007 – with a historical record in action – was the driving force of the particular, McMeans refers to artist providing studio spaces to artists since studio-residency; that which allowed residencies as facilitators of this pop- 1988 – they facilitate exchange and the identification process from im- up, group-studio, which happens to artists’ mobility through a series of material thought to material result to have a rhizomatic quality, in the way curated, thematic programmes, where take place, and the collective thinking Deleuze and Guattari would intend international practitioners are invited between the artist and us, the curat- it. In their A Thousand Plateaus the to explore common ideas and develop ors, to unfold. Shared research and French theorists defined a rhizome as partnerships in a joint environment. development are therefore key aspects it follows: Privacy is here replaced by the open of the mobile studio-residency, where quality of hospitality, which depends existing identities intermingle, and […] unlike trees or their roots, the rhizome on the act of giving-while-receiving new, transcultural, ones are borne in connects any point to any other point, and as the touchstone of social bonds. a critical setting. its traits are not necessarily linked to traits of the same nature; it brings into play To provide an example drawn from The Artist Residency: Offline and very different regimes of signs, and even my personal experience, in November Online nonsign states. [...] Unlike the graphic arts, 2016, I co-curated a project consisting drawing or photography, unlike tracings, in what my colleague Amy E. Brown In their Periodising Collectivism (2004), the rhizome pertains to a map that must and I named as a studio-practice, Sholette and Stimson claimed: ‘in a be produced, constructed, a map that is rather than an exhibition. Alongside world all but totally subjugated by the always detachable, connectable, reversible, artist Giuseppe Lana, we embarked in commodity form and the spectacle it modifiable, and has multiple entrance- a journey to explore the notion of ‘un- generates, the only remaining theatre

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 40 of action is direct engagement with to cross the western borders, invad- to occupy the gallery-space, a vitrine the forces of production.’ (Sholette ing the globe: from Brazil to Taiwan, (11), turning it into her studio, with and Stimson, 2004, 582) Residencies from Estonia to Cameroon, from Ja- the aim to display the process of art – from the Latin residēre: to reside, pan to Vietnam. A common feature, making rather than mere objects of to occupy, to settle in a specific place and one of the aims of the initiators art. Alongside other issues (12), this – embody this type of interaction, by of these programmes, was to be grass- project challenged the traditional un- engaging with social life as the vehicle roots and alternative, in order for the derstanding of residency, as anchored for expression. Contrary to what participants to experiment and engage on geographical mobility – since both many might think, the residency is not in the production of knowledge on artist and curators were London-based a contemporary phenomenon. Its ori- a local level – often in contrast with – and the idea of the studio as a solely gins can be dated back to the 1663 Prix the mainstream art scene. (La Rosa, private place. The residency, in fact, de Rome: a scholarship to travel to the 2015) Today, residencies represent an developed into what we would have French Academy in Rome (currently important step in the career of both later defined ‘a collaborative space of Villa Medici), awarded to art students artists and curators: a key factor for change:’ a symbol for discussion, like of the Académie Royale de Peinture professional development, expanding in the context of a roundtable. As et de Sculpture, under the reign of networks and encouraging cultural Chenal articulates, a further type of Louis XIV. From the end of the 19th mobility across countries (9). They residencies, ‘secular residencies’, takes century this custom spread also in the are generally identified by a series of place in commercial buildings, air- United States and, at the beginning of components including a studio space, ports, hospitals, shops, private houses, the 20th century, it evolved into pat- opportunity to exhibit and living ac- etc. These programmes overturn the ronage, often comprising sponsors commodation. Participants may also most conventional concepts of phys- and the provision of studio spaces to be offered a fee to deliver an exhibi- ical mobility and material space: talented artists. Of 1900 is Yaddo, an tion or a series of events at the conclu- artists’ community – among the first sion of their stay. The role of artists in our societies has ones of its type – located on a 400-acre changed and is changing. Artists are estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. On the occasion of a previous study called upon to intervene in all kinds With the mission of nurturing the cre- (2015), I investigated contemporary of social contexts, especially where ative process of artists, who can work forms of residencies, which can be politicians and social workers have without impediment in a supportive grouped into three categories: ‘the failed. They are expected to unveil environment, Yaddo has developed academic model (facilitated as aca- new realities, bring people together and grown. At present, it offers res- demic bases of artistic research and in communities, contribute to inclus- idencies to international practitioners creative production); the community ive policies, and so on. […] Related to working across different mediums. art model (taking the form of a com- this is the desire to re-connect art and munity art centre designed to con- artists with the social environment. But seclusion and isolation from the tribute to local development); and the There is, too, a growing interest in outside world – to stimulate creativity event-based model (organized as part the creative, economic impact of arts in a utopic environment – are not the of international festivals/exhibitions and culture. Artists’ residencies are exclusive goals of residencies. Around etc.)’ (10) To these, Tatsuhiko Murata, becoming part of the panoply of cul- the 1960s, in fact, a new model co-director of Youkobo Art Space in tural policies for local development. emerged, aiming for social action and Japan, juxtaposes the ‘microresid- And even if concrete outcomes are public involvement. Guest studios in encies’: small in scale, independent, less visible than with arts festivals and urban areas became the starting point grassroots and flexible, with an eye to events, residencies give both artists to activate political change. These ini- valuing artist’s needs and human rela- and host a sense of duration, of pro- tiatives, expanding over the 1970s and tionships. The latter became a source cess and of sustainability. These de- 1980s, created the basis for a new wave of inspiration for a project I co-cur- velopments mean that the concept of of residency programmes eventually ated in 2015, namely LIMITACTION: residency is no longer automatically proliferating in the 1990s, at the out- a six-month residency programme in associated with geographical mobility. set of globalisation and in the name of the Window Space, London. Artist A residency used to be about going diversity (8). The new tendency was Charlotte Warne Thomas was invited ‘somewhere else’, usually beyond one’s

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 41 own country. Now residencies can take artists directly into their own environment, their own cities or towns. They still experience difference there, but the challenges come not from working far away but from being in totally different contexts, profession- ally, scientifically, politically. ‘Other- ness’ can be, in terms of distance, very close. As one artist at the Residency Cairo Symposium put it: “I could even go in residence in my own home. It is not about distance or unusual environment: it is a state of mind!” (Chenal, 2009)

A thought-provoking case in this regard is the ‘uninvited residency’: a project developed by artist and curator Sam Curtis. To sustain his studies at Goldsmiths College, London, Curtis used to work as a fishmonger at Harrods. Moved by economic reasons, he turned what originally was a side job into an opportunity to develop a community-art project, drawing a parallelism between wage labour and artistic labour. He filmed his practice as a fishmonger and his interaction with the community of customers and colleagues, literally transforming his daily activity into a work of art. Curtis’s ‘uninvited residency’ draws attention to a fundamental aspect of residencies, what Zizlsperger outlines as the impelling necessity to promote ‘exchange, change and growth,’ (Zizlsperger, 2016, viii) in an environment that would otherwise obstruct the dissemination of contemporary art practices.

New Moon (2017), Bae Magick, Carly Whitaker for x-temporary. Courtesy of the artist This point further endorses the idea that, today, ‘in residence’ can infer tice encompasses time-based media providing support and online space your residency within the same local- and the use of the Internet. Examples for artists to develop processes which ity, as well as in the more ephemeral can be found in the Digital Artist Res- do not require a physical space and scenery of the digital. The format of idency directed by artist and curator work within digital or online con- online residencies is indeed rapidly Tom Milnes, or in x-temporary.org, texts.’ (Milnes, 2015) The second, growing (13), encouraging mobility of run by curator Marenka Krasomil. operating under a similar ethos, pro- content for those artists whose prac- The first is ‘an online platform […] motes the exchange of ideas, free

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 42 access to content and emphasis on selecting and filtering is in contradic- form a mobile identity that – unlikely process. Undoubtedly, programmes tion with true hospitality: a fixed one – grows and unfolds in a of this kind show a truly contempor- constant tension between ‘I’ and ‘we’, ary appreciation of mobility – where This collusion is also power in its fi- ‘individual’ and ‘community’. The con- the Digital Artist Residency keeps an nitude, which is to say the necessity, viviality of the group, in fact, provides archive of all artworks, x-temporary. for the host, for the one who receives, those who are part of it with a sense org is instead based on temporary of choosing, electing, filtering, select- of belonging, which is essential to the contributions meant to disappear once ing their invitees, visitors, or guests, flourishing of any form of identifica- the project ends. Though they both fa- those to whom they decide to grant tion. Ultimately, a place of production cilitate identification between specific asylum, the right of visiting, or hos- does not need to be filled with tangible communities of interest in a way that pitality. No hospitality, in the classic matters to unveil its intrinsic power of ensures a more immediate access than sense, without sovereignty of oneself locus of reflection and revolution. ‘In many traditional programmes. (14) over one’s home, but since there is residence’ can imply for one to exam- also no hospitality without finitude, ine his/her self, and the social role of Online residencies raise questions sovereignty can only be exercised by his/her action, in as many dimensions on the notion of artistic labour and filtering, choosing, and thus by ex- as a contemporary understanding of the currency and value behind open cluding and doing violence. (Derrida, reality requires. source: how is it possible to give 2000, 55) weight to production and process on MIRIAM LA ROSA the Internet? In addition, one may Hospitality indeed entails the creation wonder how these programmes con- of free space where the stranger can form to the notion of hospitality, vi- enter and become a friend, a compan- Notes: tal for the exchange of narratives in a ion, rather than an enemy. After all, 1 - Anne Dufourmantelle and Jacques Derrida. communal context. Arguably, hospit- we live in the age of boundless in- 2000. Of Hospitality. Anne Dufourmantelle in- ality is something extremely ‘human’ formation, mass-migration and real- vites Jacques Derrida to respond (Stanford: Stan- that the virtual will never be able to time (alternative) facts. To put spa- ford University Press), 25-47/48. recreate in its complexity. To ac- tial-temporal limitations to the places commodate and develop time-based of artistic production would be mean- 2 - Black’s text was published on the 21st of installations on a website surely is a ingless, if not impossible. March 2017, in the form of an open letter to the curators of the Whitney Biennial, on the writer’s form of residential activity, one that blog: http://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/ however unfolds within a very spe- Conclusion post/158661755087/submission-please-read- cific layer of the shared experience: share-hannah-blacks. Accessed April 19, 2017. from individual (artist) to worldwide This paper has proposed a view of the community. On the contrary, if think- residency as metaphor for a collabor- 3 - As O’Farrell highlights, it is important to ing of the Internet as ‘the studio’ with ative space of change, a discursive site remember that ‘Foucault himself favours the dissolution of identity, rather than its creation a possibility for unrestricted crosspol- and a contact point for a critical ex- or maintenance. He sees identity as a form of lination of content, the online resid- change of artistic practices. Whether subjugation and a way of exercising power over ency conquers the characteristic of – manifesting in a physical or digital people and preventing them from moving out- expanded – social space of production; setting, residency is synonymous with side fixed boundaries.’ http://www.michel-fou- yet remaining that immaterial, port- the temporary inhabiting and the last- cault.com/concepts/. Accessed April 16, 2017. able and alive entity we advocated for. ing encounter of different narratives, With this in mind, we cannot deny the in ever-new contexts. Whereas cul- 4 - A brief history of residencies is presented in the chapter The Artist Residency: Offline and role of online residencies in promot- tural mobility has become an impel- Online of this paper. For a more comprehensive ing the digital proliferation of art and ling demand in the 21st century, one account see: Miriam La Rosa. 2015. “Introduc- the development of artistic practices. may go on residence in the same city, tion” in Margarida B. Amorim, Alejandro Ball, What still remains to be verified is the on a website, or in another continent, Miriam La Rosa and Stefania Sorrentino. 2015. degree of impact that uncontrolled in- as development and evolution can lit- IN TRANSITION: the artistic and curatorial res- teraction can provoke. But following erally occur anywhere. At the basis of idency. (London: CtC Press), 4-11. Derrida’s perspective, the very act of such journey lays the opportunity to

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 43 5 - This definition of cultural mobility is that ad- every month, we explored a series of limitations Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. 1988. A opted by the platform On the Move, as defined of that specific locale: namely accessibility, pri- Thousand Plateaus : Capitalism and Schizo- by the 2008 EricArts Study, Mobility Matters: vacy, freedom and space. The project culmin- phrenia. London: Athlone Press. http://on-the-move.org/about/mission/cultur- ated with the roundtable IN TRANSITION: the almobility. Accessed April 16, 2017. artistic and curatorial residency, at Whitechapel Delfina Foundation: http://delfinafoundation. Gallery, London, in conjunction with the launch com. Accessed April 16, 2017. 6 - The exhibition was on display from the 7th to of the eponymous publication. The latter invest- the 16th of April 2017. http://furtherfield.org/ igates both historical and contemporary relev- Digital Artist Residency: http://www.digit- programmes/exhibition/offline-new-luxury. ance of residencies through commissioned essays alartistresidency.org. Accessed April 17, 2017. Accessed April 10, 2017. and interviews with artists and curators. Dufourmantelle, Anne, and Jacques Derrida. 7 - In this regard, Lefebvre stated: ‘It is never easy 13 - In 2014, for instance, Chisenhale Gallery, 2000. Of Hospitality. Anne Dufourmantelle in- to get back from the object (product or work) to London, launched an Instagram Residency, vites Jacques Derrida to respond. Stanford: Stan- the activity that produced and or created it. It is where artists are periodically invited to take over ford University Press. the only way, however, to illuminate the object’s their Instagram account and use it as a medium nature, or, if you will, the object’s relationship to for the making of work. https://www.instagram. Five Years: http://www.fiveyears.org.uk. Ac- nature, and reconstitute the process of its genesis com/chisenhalegallery/. Accessed April 19, 2017. cessed April 14, 2017. and the development of its meaning.’ (Lefebvre, 1974, 113) 14 - Here, we refer to cases where residents op- Foucault, Michel. 1979. The History of Sexuality: erate as monads within the ivory tower of the in- Volume 1. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin. 8 - In 1993, it was founded ResArtis, the oldest, stitution to only present a product to the public internationally acknowledged ‘worldwide net- in the form of a final exhibition. Green, Charles and Anthony Gardner. 2016. Bi- work of artist residencies.’ http://www.resartis. ennials, Triennials, and documenta. Chichester, org. Accessed March 22, 2017. References: UK: Wiley Blackwell. 9 - In Europe, for instance, specific residency Healy McMeans, Patricia. 2014. The Social Stu- programmes result from agreements between Amorim, Margarida B., Alejandro Ball, Miriam dio: https://thesocialstudioresearch.wordpress. different cities and countries. Talking about the La Rosa and Stefania Sorrentino. 2015. IN com. Accessed March 22, 2017. Istanbul’s scene, Zizlsperger explains that: ‘Artist TRANSITION: the artistic and curatorial resid- residencies are a relatively recent development ency. London: CtC Press. Hoffmann, James. 2012. “The Studio” in Docu- in Turkey and initially began as agreements ments of Contemporary Art, London: White- between Istanbul and various European cities. Bishop, Claire. 2012. Artificial Hells. Participat- chapel Gallery, and Cambridge: The MIT Press. The Berlin Senate programme, one such resid- ory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship. London ency that was founded in 1989, was the first of its – New York: Verso. Lefebvre, Henri. 1974. Extract from La Pro- kind in Istanbul and has hosted two Berlin artists duction de l’espace. Paris: Éditions Anthropos); every year since its inception.’ (Anna Zizlsperger. Black Contemporar Art: http://blackcontem- trans. Donald Nicholson-Smith, The Production 2016. “Engaging Istanbul. An essay on Exchange, poraryart.tumblr.com/post/158661755087/ of Space. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991, 113-17. Change and Growth.” In Exhibist. International submission-please-read-share-hannah-blacks. Art From Turkey. January 2016. (Istanbul: Scala Accessed April 19, 2017. LIMITACTION: http://www.limitaction.co.uk. Matbaa), ii – viii. A more recent example of such Accessed April 16, 2017. exchanges was the Global Art Programme (GAP) Buren, Daniel. 1971. “The Function of the Stu- – Waiting for Expo 2015, a series of exchange dio.” First published, translated by Thomas Re- Michel-foucault.com: http://www.michel-fou- residencies between Italy and many other coun- pensek, in October, no. 10. Fall 1979, 51-58. cault.com/concepts/. Accessed April 16, 2017 tries, created in partnership with the universal Expo 2015 of Milan. Chenal, Odile. 2009. in Re-tooling Residencies: Offline is the New Luxury: http://furtherfield. http://www.re-tooling-residencies.org. Ac- org/programmes/exhibition/offline-new-lux- 10 - These categories are often organised through cessed April 14, 2017. ury. Accessed April 10, 2017. public establishments in connection with the national or local authorities. http://www.youkobo. Chisenhale Gallery Instagram: https://www.in- On the Move: http://on-the-move.org/about/ co.jp/microresidence/microresidence_2012.pdf. stagram.com/chisenhalegallery/. Accessed April mission/culturalmobility. Accessed April 16, Accessed: April 17, 2017. 19, 2017. 2017.

11 - This is a gallery with no physical access for Coupland, Douglas. 2016. Bit Rot. London: Wil- ResArtis: http://www.resartis.org. Accessed the public, other than the possibility to observe liam Heinemann. March 22, 2017. from the viewpoint of the street. Davidts, Wouter and Kim Paice. The Fall of the 12 - Through an opening-event taking place Studio: Artists at Work, Valiz: 2009.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 44 Sassen, Saskia. 2005. “The Global City: intro ducing a Concept.” e Brown Journal of World A airs, Volume XI, Issue 2. Providence: Brown University, Winter/ Spring 2005.

Shanken, Edward A. “Contemporary Art and New Media: Toward a Hybrid Discourse?” Ex- panded from a conference paper first presented at Transforming Culture in the Digital Age. Tartu Estonia: 15 April, 2010; excerpt presented at ISEA2010 RUHR Dortmund: 23 August, 2010.

Stimson, Blake, and Gregory Sholette. 2004. “Periodising Collectivism.” Third Text, Vol. 18, Issue 6, 2004, 573–583, Routledge.

Youkobo Art Space: http://www.youkobo.co.jp/ microresidence/microresidence_2012.pdf. Ac- cessed: April 17, 2017. x-temporary.org: https://x-temporary.org. Ac- cessed April 17, 2017.

Zizlsperger, Anna. 2016. “Engaging Istanbul. An essay on Exchange, Change and Growth.” In Ex- hibist. International Art From Turkey. January 2016. (Istanbul: Scala Matbaa), ii – viii.

MIRIAM LA ROSA

MIRIAM LA ROSA IS SENIOR RESEARCHER AT THE ART CONSULTANCY AGENCY MONTABONEL & PARTNERS, WHERE SHE ENGAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRO- JECTS SUCH AS PUBLICATIONS, EXHIB- ITIONS AND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIA. WITH AN ACADEMIC BACKGROUND IN CURATING, MUSEOLOGY AND ART HIS- TORY, MIRIAM HAS CURATED VARIOUS EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS BETWEEN THE UK AND ITALY, AND WORKED IN IN- STITUTIONS INCLUDING WHITECHAPEL GALLERY, LONDON, STEDELIJK MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM AND VAN ABBEMUSEUM, EINDHOVEN. SHE IS CURRENTLY PART OF THE ARTIST-RUN SPACE FIVE YEARS, LONDON, AND MEMBER OF THE EDITOR- IAL TEAM OF CTC (CURATINGTHECON- TEMPORARY.ORG): AN ONLINE PUBLISH- ING PLATFORM SHE CO-FOUNDED IN 2013

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 45 SELLING MY FULL GENOME TO THE HIGHEST BIDER USING ART TO EXPAND THE DISCOURSE SURROUNDING DNA DATA by Jeroen Van Loon

“In short, ladies and gentlemen, my message today is that data is gold.”

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 46 www.cellout.me screenshot, taken on 27-09-2015. Photo courtesy of the artist

In 2016, I sold my entire DNA profile to the highest bid- me, I offered my full genome - 380gb of personal DNA der online. Therefore I am no longer the sole owner of my data - for sale, online, for one year. The auction ended at DNA data. This sale was at the core of my artwork cel- midnight on September 27th, 2016. Anybody could place lout.me (2015-2016). In this article, I’ll give an overview a bid through www.cellout.me. The buyer would own an of different perspectives from which thinking about the extremely personal ‘self-portrait’, in the most modern me- selling of human DNA data can be done. I will do this by dium: 3 billion lines of code, consisting of As, Ts, Cs or first writing about why I sold my DNA data and why I be- Gs which together make up my genetic blueprint and hold lieve it matters. Secondly, I will provide perspectives on all my hereditary information - including partly that of my selling DNA data from an artistic, ethical, economic and son, sister, parents and grandmother. The DNA data was of cyber security-related points of view, written by experts official laboratory quality, meaning it was sequenced with a from those respective fields. Finally, I will conclude with 30-fold coverage depth. my personal thoughts concerning the value of my sold DNA data. This article can be seen as a way to expand the The artwork cellout.me consists of four parts: discourse surrounding DNA data through the use of art. I’m an artist from the Netherlands and for some years now, 1 - The server cabinet which houses a server that stores my I have been creating artworks that document, visualize or DNA data and a screen showing the raw DNA data, line by reveal contemporary and future digital culture. My goal line. is not to create art using the newest technological or di- 2 - Seven framed photographs which show the blood-to- gital tools, but to show how these tools create the digital data process. cultures we inhabit and to wonder how they (and we) will 3 - Four framed letters that broaden the discourse on selling change in the future. human DNA data. 4 - The www.cellout.me website. Cellout.me Placing a bid meant placing a bid on the entire artwork. Cellout.me was created in 2015 for the biannual exhibi- Twenty-two bids were placed during the entire year. On tion Art along the Schinkel in Amsterdam. With Cellout. September 27th, 2016, in the final 30 minutes of the auc-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 47 Generating blood samples at Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands. Photo by Erik Bos tion, there were four different parties, both commercial authorship, copyright, privacy, big data and ethics. DNA and cultural, who were bidding against each other. At mid- sequencing technology is becoming cheaper, easier and night, Belgian art collector Geert Verbeke had the highest more widely available each day. This means that biology bid. As a result, he now owns Cellout.me and my DNA is converted into binary data. Contrary to our actual DNA, data. Cellout.me was sold for €1100 and is currently exhib- DNA data is stored outside the human body. Access to this ited at the Verbeke Foundation museum. data isn’t automatically controlled by its (original) owner. The data can be copied, manipulated, shared, sold, bought, The path of least resistance and so on and so forth.

The idea behind Cellout.me was that, by turning DNA data Before the arrival of binary code, each type of content had into a commodity, the artwork would pull future digital its own container, like, for instance, an LP, a CD, a book, culture into the present, asking new questions concerning a printed photograph or a VHS tape. Not only did content

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 48 have its own container, most of the where it remained private, inaccess- questions; as I’ve said before, I try to time it also had its own presentation ible and anti-viral, if you will. Results reveal future digital culture. I want to device that gave the public access to of genetic testing and screenings have create art that triggers new questions the content. There were different an associated or relational quality, and perspectives. To expand on this, devices for different types of content. so that their relevance is not limited I’ve asked four people, each with a Of course, the content on these con- to the individual but could extend to different professional background (in tainers could be copied, but the phys- biological relatives . Perhaps in a few arts, ethics, economics and cyber se- icality of the containers, and its devices years, your doctor (or someone else) curity), to give their view on selling for presentation, made it harder for will sequence your DNA through their human DNA data. the content to go places that it wasn’t MinION . Will you be able to receive designed to go. All of this changed and own that sequenced data? Com- Art with the use of binary code. Binary panies like 23andme.com are already code doesn’t need different devices analyzing your DNA for you, while A perspective on Cellout.me by Peter van for different types of content. If you storing your (or is it theirs?) data in der Graaf, Head of Department, Post- have a device that can read binary their datacenters, selling its access to War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s code, you can view images, read texts, third parties . DNA data is the new Amsterdam. watch videos, play games or create frontier when it comes to questions your own content. Furthermore, with concerning authorship, copyright or What is the value of a person’s DNA? the arrival of the internet, binary code privacy; it goes far beyond Facebook Or more specifically, what is the value became like water in rivers, pools and likes or online cookies. Who knows of Jeroen van Loon’s DNA? oceans, seemingly flowing from one where your DNA data will go, into place to another, the combination which rivers, lakes or oceans and who If we want information about a per- of all of the streams creating one big will access, copy and use it? son, we can find a great deal in his global ocean. The water - or data - past: physical traits, antecedents and evaporates, forms a cloud, turns into Using art to expand discourse medical records can provide insight. rain and returns to the rivers, lakes or However, when it comes to the ‘ap- oceans, now in different places and in Selling my DNA data is a work of art, praisal’ of the DNA, virtually every eld different shapes. meaning that it is completely useless involved focuses on the information and bears no actual function other that it may contain about the future of Each time content is transformed than trying to reveal a digital culture its ‘owner’. The added value, then, is into binary code, the same issues with in which selling (human) DNA data in its ability to predict. For instance, copyright, privacy and authorship is an accepted custom. If, as Neelie the genetic information can indicate a tend to arise. We saw what happened Kroes, former European Commis- predisposition for certain diseases, or when downloading was introduced, sioner for Digital Agenda, stated, data possible benefits of talents that are ap- when p2p networks were created and is the new gold, the first question that parently innate, but have not yet been when live streaming sites emerged. arises is: what is the value of DNA tapped. Questions of who owns what con- data? Does it have different values for tent became more complex, questions different people? Does DNA data have An art appraiser, on the other hand, about what the original is became ob- an intrinsic value, and if so, to whom almost always works from a histor- solete, and questions about when to and why? Is it even fair to compare ical perspective. While the media tell pay for digital content became almost biological DNA to DNA data? And if it us that ‘past results are no guarantee non-existent. Binary code follows the can be sold, whose is it to sell? Mine? for the future’, it is precisely these past path of least resistance. Or do I need to include my family? results that determine the value of a Speaking of family, how does selling work of art. This does not mean that I believe the same happens with biolo- my DNA data influence the privacy of financial value cannot be attributed gical DNA, once it’s transformed into me and my family members? to works of art that have yet to prove binary code. Until now, DNA was their quality. It is known that Rem- stored safely inside your own biolo- As an artist, I have no interest in ac- brandt used to sell shares in paintings gical ‘presentation device’, the body, tually providing answers to all these that he had yet to paint. A commis-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 49 DNA goes into the HiSeq sequencer for two weeks. Photo by Erik Bos sioner that pays for a work of art in As far as the Cellout.me project is con- work of art. Through data analysis, advance is effectively taking an option cerned, I am forced to conclude that the new owner of Van Loon’s DNA on the future. almost all of these questions are dif- may be able to know everything about ficult to answer. Appraising concep- the artist’s creative brain in the future. The way a work of art is received is tual art has proven to be a challenge Collectors often want to get as close different for every person, and so ap- before. When an artist no longer sees to the artist’s psyche as possible, in preciating the work of art is a subject- the eventual physical appearance of order to try to understand his creative process. However, our environ- his work of art as the end goal, but ive urges and powers. Perhaps, Jeroen ment de definitely creates a collective rather as a means to represent his idea, van Loon offers the possibility to ana- sense of taste. It is the appraiser’s job this makes appraising the work diffi- lyze the artist’s mind more thoroughly to recognize this collective sense of cult, because the thing that is eventu- than ever. taste and to express it in a financial ally purchased is not necessarily the value. A good expert always asks him- final product. In some cases, the final If the value of this work of art is to self questions: what do I see? Who has product is not tangible, or the work be determined, the following ques- made the thing that I see? When was of art is nothing more than a moment tion arises: in what way is Jeroen van this work of art made? How can I place in the past, as is the case with per- Loon’s DNA worth more than that of it in the artist’s body of work? What formance art. But there are solutions other people? Is an artist’s DNA more is the artist’s track record? How does to this problem; for example, one valuable than that of an ‘average’ mor- this work relate to the time period in can purchase the rights to perform a tal? In comparison, artist Piero Man- which it was made? How does it relate piece, which have a determined finan- zoni decided to investigate the pos- to the current time period? What is cial value. sible added value of being an artist in the work’s history (provenance, refer- 1961, by canning his own faeces. He ences in literature and/or exhibition Cellout.me, however, also goes bey- offered this Merde d’Artiste for sale, history)? Does this history add value? ond the criteria that have been placed for the same price as gold at the time. Who will buy the work and what will on appraising conceptual art: the artist By doing this, he wanted to demon- he or she pay for it? does more than just offer a conceptual strate that even the faeces of an artist

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 50 like Manzoni is of immense value. And he turned out to be right: in 2014, at an auction in New York, one of the cans sold for over $200,000.

If Jeroen van Loon’s works turn out to be the ultimate cultural-historical registrations of the developments within the eld of genetics, he will be regarded, in a few decades, as a tre- mendously important part of art history. This may make the Cellout.me art project into a very valuable cultural icon. What is the value of Jeroen van Loon’s DNA? As I have said before, past results are no guarantee for Installation view, “Beyond Data” Centraal Museum, photo by Gert-Jan van Rooij the future. But if financial value can be attributed to Manzoni’s excrements, to know our own DNA really such a contain much less usable informa- at what price will Jeroen van Loon in good idea? What moral value does the tion than previously assumed. For the his entirety sell? genome have for us? most part, the predictive value of the sequence is rather limited. Genetics Ethics If we ask questions about the ‘moral has turned out to be extremely com- value’ of our DNA, what kind of value plex - a foggy crystal ball in which one A perspective on Cellout.me by bioethicist are we talking about? cannot discern one’s STILL, THERE IS Eline Bunnik, affiliated with Erasmus At least three kinds of future. Still, there is MC, Department of Medical Ethics and values are of relevance: SOME USABLE some usable inform- Philosophy of Medicine. informative value, wor- INFORMATION TO ation to be found thiness of protection, BE FOUND IN THE in the genome, and Appreciating DNA and symbolic value. GENOME, AND MORE more and more of it. If we determine the se- For example, we all On the moral value of one complete AND MORE FOR IT human genome quence of the three bil- carry 3 or 4 recessive lion base pairs and then conditions that we Over the past decades scientists all look at them, they do not tell us any- can pass on to our children. Numer- over the world have placed strong thing. The sequence looks more or less ous markers in our DNA can indicate bets on genome research and genome like this: CTCCTCCTCATCTTCGT- possible health risks. Some people technology, under the assumption that CACGGTCTCCTCGCTTCGCTA- have rare mutations that will almost the genome contained the blueprint GCTCGCTTGCTTGCTGG. A se- certainly cause diseases later on in life. of human life. They thought that, quence is nothing but data: it is not Not every genome is as tell-tale as the once they were able to ‘read’ DNA, informative yet. The genome gets its next. they would be able to predict where informative value through analysis our human weaknesses lie, which dis- and interpretation. We can only pre- The human genome can thus be of eases will affect us, what it is that will dict hereditary traits, physical traits, informative value – it could, for ex- eventually kill us. Human kind would or risk of diseases, if we can ‘read’ the ample, be useful for the promotion of gain insight into its future. But can genome. health. DNA may also be of informat- we truly know our future, and do we ive value for another party, such as an really want to? How can we live, for Though scientists have become bet- insurance company or an employer, instance, knowing that we will de- ter and better at reading the genome, who may refuse to hire somebody on velop Alzheimer’s disease, a disease they have not become much wiser. the basis of genetic risks. DNA can for which there is no cure? Is getting Once read, the genome turns out to be used in immoral ways. These risks

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 51 www.cellout.me screenshot, 151 days left. Photo courtesy of the artist apply not only to you yourself, but for example, my own genetic test res- the same way, I could become closer also to your family members. If your ults – including dozens of health risks to my loved ones if I possessed their genome is analyzed, your siblings may – that are stored at the commercial DNA, if I knew their sequence. But accidentally and perhaps regrettably American company that has analyzed what does the complete genome of a find out about certain conditions that my DNA for me? The company holds ‘regular other’ mean to me? Every per- may also affect them. Your DNA does my readable DNA. This is DNA that son’s DNA is unique. The genome is an not belong solely to you. When it I should protect. Protecting a genome identify er in itself; forensic DNA- re- comes to decision-making about your today mostly consists of monitoring search requires only about ten genetic genome, your relatives should be inaccess to the ‘read’ genome, and en- markers to create a unique, identify- volved in the process. suring that these three billion pairs of ing DNA-profile. A genome is more a data will not fall into the wrong hands. person’s ‘own’ than, for example, their DNA is worthy of protection. This You can protect a genome by guarding name. It contains all the instructions worthiness of protection depends, its digital translation, thus protecting for the construction and the function- among other things, on the per- the person behind it. ing of the body. In the same way that son. It is said that the security detail Then there is the symbolic value of a fully-grown tree is determined by its of the president of the United States DNA. I could keep my baby’s first seed, a fully-grown body is determ- always erases any traces of DNA he DNA sequence in the same way that ined by its DNA. In theory, scientists leaves behind, wherever he goes. We I’ve kept a lock of his hair from his first should be able to generate a new hu- all lose hairs, skin cells and mucous haircut. The genome as a symbol for a man body from one single cell, on the membrane cells throughout the day. person, then, has value if that person basis of one DNA-molecule: a clone. We leave our DNA everywhere we is important to me. There are people My genome, that endless chain of A’s, go; on door handles, glasses and ac- who are willing to pay more than half T’s, C’s and G’s: that is me. quaintances’ hands. Because the traces a million dollars for the guitar that of DNA we leave behind cannot be John Lennon used in 1966. This gui- DNA, in sum, has moral value. It is a read easily, we do not have to protect tar is an icon; possessing it brings the carrier of information that can help them on a daily basis. But what about, owner one step closer to his idol. In promote health, but it can also lead

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 52 This changes (radically) as the buyer builds up a larger database, and if individuals know or suspect that their DNA contains a certain deviation. Take, for example, the extremely talented sprinter Dafne Schippers. The DNA of the fastest woman in the world may provide insights into how this natural predisposition for speed and focus might be determined. If we have this information, we can perhaps already identify the next Dafne Schip- pers. And what about cancer patients? Insight into the deviations in their DNA could make it possible for us to www.cellout.me screenshot, taken on 28-09-2016. Photo courtesy of the artist detect cancer early on in people with similar profiles. The profiles that have to genetic discrimination. DNA is value at this moment. It will only be no deviations are practically worthless worthy of protection, and it is a sym- valuable if Jeroen finds a way to get in this phase: these exist in abundance. bol for the human being. But how another 100,000 people – or prefer- And scarce goods are often more ex- does one express the moral value of ably, even more – to offer their DNA pensive, regardless of whether these DNA? Can it be converted to a monet- profiles for sale. Commercially speak- deviations are positive or negative. It ary unit? Could we possibly conceive ing, you can’t really do anything with is simply a matter of market forces. of something like a moral selling price the data that a single DNA profile In the case of deviations in our DNA, in relation to the cost price? You could provides. However, this changes if you we can take this one step further. think of DNA as a digital version of know how that DNA profile differs Scarce goods are usually more expens- a person. If you guard his genome from the average profile. If you have ive, but that is only valid to a certain and keep it, you can save him from this knowledge, you can, for example, extent in this case. Say that, on the obscurity, and maybe, one day, bring find out what type of DNA profile is basis of DNA analysis, we are able to him back to life again. How much is especially suitable for the highest level detect early-stage cancer in 10,000 mankind worth to me? How much is of endurance sports, or what type of patients. This is valuable, because it it worth to you? DNA is mysterious profile has an increased risk of a cer- enables us to save 10,000 lives. But if and ordinary, unknown and familiar tain disease. the deviation is so specific that we can at the same time. But above all, the However, at this moment, in the only detect it in 15 patients, it sud- value of the genome is personal. collecting phase, we don’t know if denly becomes much less interesting; Jeroen’s DNA contains any relevant only a very small group of people bene Economics deviations. Let’s assume that Jeroen t from this discovery. Both supply and indeed finds a way to bring together a demand, then, are determined by the A perspective on Cellout.me by Sander collective of people willing to sell their scarcity of the deviation, and if the de- Klous, managing director KPMG Big DNA profiles. Commercial parties will mand is too low, the market value is Data Analytics and Nart Wielaard, come forward to exploit the informa- not worth the investment. writer/advisor. tion gathered from these profiles. In this phase, each DNA profile will have The value of your DNA, then, de- The question: “What is Jeroen’s DNA the same value, because the buyer pends on the following question: do profile worth?” does not know which profiles deviate you know how much your DNA devi- from the norm, and are therefore po- ates from the average profile? Profiles The simple answer: right now, 0 tentially useful for exploitation. The without any important deviations as euros. buyer doesn’t really know what he is well as profiles with very unique de- Jeroen’s DNA profile has no monetary purchasing. viations are likely to be worth less.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 53 Should we ever get to a phase where will take place. The project in the UK So what is the best way to protect your we are able to manipulate DNA and its is well protected, and it has a clear data? In any case, make sure it is well associated personality traits (a phase aim: tracking down the causes of rare encrypted. You should also make sure where this is ethically acceptable), hereditary disorders. The access to the that your passwords are strong. If you these unique deviations logically will goldmine is explicitly controlled. rely on a third party to manage the become more interesting. But in the background, the next group protection of your data, ask them to of gold miners is lurking. These clarify things. Make sure you are up Cybersecurity miners are less interested in the jack- to date about their protection policy, pot (unravelling the genetic back- and, most importantly, stay critical. A perspective on Cellout.me by cyber ground of hereditary diseases), but are crime expert Pim Volkers, execut- aiming for the smaller treasures in the Final thoughts ive vice president of Fox-IT and co- DNA instead. They will focus on col- founder of Verilabs. lecting the DNA data of as many in- The first thing everyone asks me dividuals as possible, and making this when I talk about cellout.me is “Are Like many other innovations, the data searchable. They will also look you happy with the €1100 you got ever-growing possibilities in the area for the smaller veins of gold within for it?” My answer has always been of DNA analysis bring about prob- the big data of our DNA. And that is “That’s not for me to say, since it lems. Within the cyber domain, these when we will find out what the true doesn’t matter what I think or feel problems may include artificial intelli- value of the ground in which they are about the money. The goal was to sell gence, cyber crime or maybe even ter- searching, our DNA, really is. human DNA data; whether it was sold rorism. The similarities between our If this value is not clear at when we for €1 or €1,000,000 doesn’t matter. profession and Genetics lie in the use sell (or hand over) our DNA, we could The process itself is more important of computing forces, the recognition end up like the farmer who sells his than the money.” of patterns and the protection of data. grounds for a small pro t, and is then forced WHY IS GOOGLE But if I’m being com- If DNA is the new gold, I expect to see to watch as the gold INTERESTED IN DNA pletely honest, I didn’t a gold rush, like we have seen before is mined from those feel that strongly about PROFILES? WHAT CAN in the US and South Africa. The sus- grounds. the artwork for the pected treasures hidden beneath the WE GATHER FROM entire year. During surface of DNA sequences are so ap- Why is Google inter- THESE PROFILES, the last month of the pealing that they will attract all kinds ested in DNA profiles? NOW AND IN THE auction, and especially of researchers and entrepreneurs. What can we gather FUTURE during the final days, The first to show up will be the pro- from these profiles, I became more and spectors – the specialists who explore now and in the future? more nervous. The the area of the continuously growing Would you want to (publicly) know general feeling was one of doubt, fail- amount of DNA data. Due to the an- the sequences of dangerous viruses – ure and excitement. There was this al- nually increasing capacity of the DNA could they be spread by a drone, flying most subconscious feeling of personal sequencers, the price of the mapping over Dam square on Commemoration failure. “What if I don’t get enough of the area will go down drastically. Day? What about your privacy with money for it?”, “What do people think There are projects, like in the UK, regard to health insurance companies? of the work?”, “Is it still a successful that aim at sequencing the complete Would you even want to know where work?”. I’m selling my DNA data, this genome of 100,000 people. Though the weaknesses and strengths in your has never been done before, there’s this is revolutionary, and vital if a gold DNA lie? In short, handing over this nothing to compare it to. The fact that rush is to be triggered, this is only the information without ensuring the I felt that the work would be a failure first step. The area has been localized, protection of your data will always be if the price tag wasn’t big enough is but the gold is still hiding in the huge a problem deserving of a critical ap- strange; apparently I equated success- mountain of DNA data. Now, the proach. ful artwork with expensive artwork. first, still well organized explorations It’s interesting to reflect on this. Does

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 54 Final moment of cellout.me auction. Photo courtesy of the artist it have to do with a final moment of insecurity? Or with non-existent in my mind. The work has been sold; there is my ego? Am I a better person when my DNA data is more a price tag for human DNA data now. We can work from expensive? Maybe it’s capitalism in its most fundamental there. We could ask: when will the price of a human DNA form, putting a price tag on the information of a human profile differ? I don’t believe the price will be any different being. Either way, after working on the artwork for more purely based on the actual differences in DNA profiles. I than a year, in the end I still became obsessed with, or fear- think the price will change based on its ‘biological repres- ful of, the financial end result. The interesting thing was entation device’, in other words, on the person who is rep- that I wasn’t the only one thinking about this. I remember resented by the DNA data. This means that, as is the case being asked to appear on national tv in the Netherlands, but with all art, the value of a human DNA profile resides in eventually the producer told me to let them know when the context rather than production price tag ‘gets bigger and interesting enough for television’. The same went for people from the artistic community; JEROEN VAN LOON more than once, I was advised to artificially raise the price by placing fake bids myself. One person even advised me to hire a SEO specialist to make sure that www.cellout.me JEROEN VAN LOON would be the first hit and told me “It should be your number one priority to push up the price as much as possible, Jeroen van Loon lives and works in Utrecht, Netherlands. He re- otherwise the whole thing will be a failure”, claiming that ceived a bachelor in Digital Media Design and a European Media a human genome should be worth as much as possible. Master of Arts from the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. His Throughout the year-long auction, I always defended the fascination revolves around the revealing, documenting, and visu- artwork, saying that the price tag didn’t matter, that the alizing of digital culture. Earlier work focussed on its personal and societal impact while recent work focusses on the Internet itself: value of my DNA data might even end up being lower than its architecture, physicality, and connectivity—speculating on how the actual production price. That’s an idea that I still find these will change in the future. Van Loon gave two TEDx talks, very interesting, and that turned out to be true in my case. won the European Youth Award and was awarded the K. F. Hein At the end, I became just like every other person, fearing a Art Grant. Recent work is included in the collection of the Verbeke ‘low’ price. Today the whole discussion of the price tag is Foundation, Belgium. https://jeroenvanloon.com/

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 55 Iphone used as a literal and symbolic mirror of its user PUTTING THE SELF IN SELFIE: AN EXPLORATION INTO THE WAYS IN WHICH DIGITAL DEVICES ACT AS AN EXTENSION OF THE SELF

by Samaa Ahmed

Extended Self “from technological tools, to social tools.” I would take that idea a step further, to say that our devices are iden- In the 21st century, most aspects of our daily routine are tity-building tools. Personally, my iPhone acts as a tool mediated through digital devices. Due to the ubiquity of for communication, organization, documentation, and technology - whether at work, school, or play - our elec- sometimes, as a form of escapism or to alleviate boredom. tronic possessions are an integral part of our lives. Camp- I have a very intimate relationship with my phone, as it bell (2005) describes the shift in the utility of our devices is always on my body - in my pocket, in my hands - or

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 56 within my arm’s reaching distance. phone call on my landline to hear the it to be hyperbolic. However, upon In the moments when I misplace my news of my grandmother’s passing, I deeper consideration, I can relate to phone, I feel panicked. The reason would have to rifle through a tangible the idea of feeling lost, alone, and vul- for this is the significance of what my photo album to see her face, I would nerable without my most important phone represents. My smartphone is put a tape into a VCR to watch family possessions. I do impart a lot of sym- the primary way that I stay in touch movies of us, I would listen to songs bolic value to my favorite possessions, with others, and as a result, it often that reminded me of her on a CD, and and they offer me a sense of validation acts as the embodiment of people I I would possibly put a photo of her in in return. care about. Whether it is a birth an- my wallet to keep her close to me at nouncement and a photo of my baby all times. In our digital world, we have different niece, an excited phone call informing and increasingly complicated ways of me of my friend’s engagement, or an Now, I was able to seamlessly integ- extending ourselves, beyond our tan- email congratulating me on receiving rate all of these activ- gible possessions. Belk a scholarship that I worked very hard ities into my every- MY RELATIONSHIP updated his theory in for, my phone is the medium through day life, facilitated by WITH MY PHONE IS 2013, by publishing which all of these messages are de- my iPhone. On the NOT UNIQUE, NOR AM his study “The Exten- livered. one hand, this could I ALONE IN THE WAY ded Self in a Digital simply be explained World.” This newer THAT I HAVE BEGUN I became interested in the way that by advancements in work provides the my own identity has been shaped by technology. But on the TO SEE MY PHONE AS context for much of my relationships with digital devices other hand, and the AN EXTENSION OF my paper. shortly after my grandmother passed direction that I tend to MYSELF away in 2013. I was notified in a fam- favor, this was a res- Belk (2013) introduces ily groupchat, and almost immediately ult of my extreme identification with new factors that are involved in cre- my cousins and aunts shared photo- my phone. By bestowing a part of my ating the extended self, including de- graphs and videos of her, and wrote emotional self onto it, my phone was materialization, re-embodiment, and sentimental texts about how much she able to carry out these deeply personal co-construction of the self. These meant to all of us. My grandmother functions for me. new concepts take into account the was in Pakistan, and I was living in ways in which people’s relationships the U.S. at the time. I had just got- My relationship with my phone is not with objects in general have changed ten my first job, and I was not able unique, nor am I alone in the way that from the 1980s to present day. For ex- to take time off to go to her funeral. I I have begun to see my phone as an example, we have fewer objects that do mourned through my phone, making tension of myself. In 1988, Belk con- more tasks, and so the scope of “what it a shrine to her memory. I grieved ducted several studies that examined is mine” (Belk, 1988) is narrower. This by posting photos that I had with her consumer behavior and the meanings has effects on how we prioritize the on my Instagram feed. I changed my that consumers attach to their pos- few objects that we have, and in turn homescreen and wallpaper to a selfie sessions. Through his findings, he changes the ways that they embody of us together. I listened to recordings was able to explain the phenomenon, and co-construct our identities. of her voice, and watched YouTube which he referred to as the extended videos of her favorite songs. self, quite succinctly: that “we are what Recently, I accidentally left my laptop we have” (p 160). in a rental car, and I felt real, physical In the process of memorializing my pain when I thought that it was lost grandmother, it occurred to me that When analyzing the significance of forever. I cried. Aside from missing this was perhaps the first time in his- people’s most precious and useful pos- personal files and photographs, my tory that all of these different psy- sessions (at the time, cars for men, and heart ached when I considered what chological, interpersonal, and mater- jewelry for women), he found “pos- a lost laptop would mean for my live- ial functions could be carried out on sessions follow body parts and mind lihood as a designer. I thought about one device. Not even twenty years in their centrality to self” (p 159). At the work that I would not be able to ago, I would have probably received a first, while reading that claim, I found deliver to my clients on time, and the

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 57 potential contracts that I would lose out on. I thought about the endless hours of Personalized digital devices allow us sketching, writing, and graphic files that would be lost forever. I worried about to be “isolated” from others, because the personal information stored on my laptop being stolen or made public. we can complete complex tasks by ourselves, where previously we would The reason that this experience was so traumatizing for me is that, essentially, have relied on others. Although this my office was destroyed. As a freelancer, the laptop represented all of my current can be a liberating experience, it can work, my past portfolio, and contained all of my confidential HR files. When have some negative consequences too. framed in that way, my strong response seems more justified. In a normal cor- What I am interested in is the social, porate setting, a destroyed office would be a catastrophic situation. It would be cultural, and political consequences to an issue taken very seriously, and many people’s lives would be affected. How- increasingly privatized, isolated, and ever, because of the nature of creative work, and the remoteness of teleworking, personal relationships with techno- this situation - whose impact would normally be shared by an entire department logy, not necessarily with placing a - fell solely on me. Belk (2013) describes this phenomenon as the process of value judgment on whether they are “privatization” of the self through technology. good or bad.

Embodiment and Virtuality

Our relationships with our possessions, and our technologies, are not all equal. Ahuvia (2005) argues that the possessions that have the most symbolic significance, thus the ones that we identify with most, are objects that we “love”. He describes “love objects” as those possessions that give us enjoyment, arouse our passions, and appeal to our aesthetic, ethical, and practical senses. Using this definition in my own life, I would categorize my iPhone as a “love object”.

In an informal survey of my friends and classmates, they also deem their smartphones as love objects. When I asked my friends and classmates to elaborate why, they explained that their phones carry their most important and intimate information, and that they spend hours interacting with and through it everyday. When prodded a bit further, they proudly showed off the ways in which they have customized their phones, either on the outside with decorative cases and trinkets, or by downloading apps, creating shortcuts, or modifying software. This anecdotal evidence is supported by Srivastava (2005) who says, Iphone used as a literal and symbolic mirror of its user “the mobile phone has indeed become

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 58 the kinds of interactions that can be experienced through phones are becoming more sophisticated.

We share very intimate moments with others, through our phone, and therefore the phone becomes part of the intimacy (Ahmed & Lawrence, 2016). In fact, we even have apps like lickthis- app.com, which invites users to simulate oral sex (on a clitoris) using their tongues on the surface of their phones. Another example is the app Couple, which helps long-distance partners stay in touch. Their “Thumbkiss” fea- Steve Jobs iPhone 3G Presentation ture simulates the tactile experience of intimacy, with one’s phone acting as a the most intimate of a user’s personal happens quite seamlessly is in intim- proxy for one’s partner. When both sphere of objects” and that “users have ate relationships. Stone (1991) studied people touch the same spot on their a more ‘emotional’ relationship with phone sex workers, and she argued screens, their phones vibrate, and they their phones than with any other that the entire project of phone sex both experience physical feedback. form of communication technology” was contingent upon the phone, and (p 113). conversation through the phone, be- Is the intimacy experienced through ing considered an adequate or satis- these digital spaces not “real”? Farman These claims are further explored fying substitute for physical intimacy. says, “the virtual is not the opposite of by Farman (2012), who analyzes She explained, “what was being sent the real, instead it is a component of the codependent relationship that back and forth over the wires wasn’t experiencing the real” (p 22). Firstly, consumers have with their mobile just information, it was bodies.” This most of the interactions that happen phones. He posits that when we use was in the pre-cell phone era, where in virtual space began as interactions mobile technologies, “we engage in conversations were only verbal, and in material space, and secondly, what the process of enacting embodiment the length of the phone call would be happens in virtual space does affect across media interfaces” (p 21). This limited to how much time one could our “real” lives. We experience genu- embodiment most often takes shape as spend monopolizing the family land- ine emotion – unfiltered happiness a textual persona, a user profile on an line. But in our modern age, these and sadness – depending on what we app, or an avatar, among other forms. sexual “virtual” relationships can also read online, or the way that someone Farman suggests that this “sensory-in- include images and video, and can be treats us on social media. We have scribed body… becomes a lens for all carried on all day, in our pockets and conversations on messenger apps that of our interactions with mobile inter- away from prying eyes. we pick up again in person. We follow faces.” What I understand this to mean directions on our phone GPS to take is that embodiment is not dependent Many people fall in love online (with us to real places. on physical space, and that techno- a real person or with a “catfish”), or logy becomes embodied through our arrange hook ups through apps, and So, what is unreal about the digital? interactions within and between di- many more maintain long distance Through all of these interactions, we gital media. Farman also argues that relationships through their smart- are able to effortlessly deconstruct the the interfaces of mobile phones are phones. Our phones must become an mobile interface. It does not act as an intentionally designed in order to blur extension of our physical, and poten- artificial barrier that separates the vir- the boundaries between what is “real” tially emotional, selves in order for tual from the real; instead, it becomes and “virtual” life. A very interesting these interactions to be meaningful. a part of the way that we experience example of where this embodiment With advancements in technology, the world.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 59 It is interesting to think about the ways that technology is not only something that we function through, but that is embedded within us. Har- away (1991) proposes a “cyborg” consciousness, whereby she argues that humans are, and always have been, integrated with technology. This idea is similar to Leach (2006)’s argument for mimesis, whereby we create technology in our image, and that we live our lives through technology.

Technology alters our behavior in a multitude of ways: from maneuver- ing the physical object itself, systematically navigating through interfaces, to selecting the information that we upload on the platforms that we use. Thus, if we shape technology, and technology shapes us in return, it would follow that technology plays a role in how we, as individuals, construct our identity and the way that we think about our “self”.

Technology has an agenda. Apple Inc. actively promotes the ideology of individualism and non-conform- ity through its products, most notably since its infamous 1984 Super Bowl commercial (Scott, 1984; Zeller, User interface to set yo TouchID finger pront recognition on iPhone 2011). In 1998, when the first iMac was launched, Steve Jobs explained Arguably the “i” in iPhone is a marker the object after yourself? Since the that the “i” meant “Internet, individual, of identity (Elgan, 2013); it not only iPhone was released, it was seen as an instruct, inform, inspire” (Griffin, stands for Jobs’ five initial i-words, but “object of desire”, rather than simply 2016). The company would go on to for the possessive I, me, mine. Apple a practical device, and it rapidly be- brand almost all of its products with Macintosh computers were the first came a cultural phenomenon. iPhones the prefix “i”, including, perhaps most to create user profiles, which would appealed to a large cross-section of prominently, the iPhone. It is an in- allow individuals to sign in to a “per- people, from techies to celebrities, teresting naming phenomenon, and sonalized” homescreen on a shared and everyone in between (Carrington, has effects on its users, for example desktop. It is second nature for me to 2012). They were able to offer a win- I always refer to my phone as “my see my devices named “Samaa’s iPad” ning combination of efficiency, func- iPhone.” I cannot think of any other or “Samaa’s iPhone”, and if I leave my tionality, and style. Their sleek form brand that demands its user refer to laptop unattended, my screensaver of plastic, metal, and glass represen- its products so specifically. I do not will let others know that it is “Samaa ted a highly coveted contemporary call my projector “my Insignia” or my Ahmed’s Macbook”. What is a more aesthetic in design and technology, headphones “my JVCs”. literal example of endowing your which allowed users to feel “smart and identity to an object, than to name attractive” while using their phones

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 60 (Griffin, 2016). Grossman (2007) which means that it has influenced bile devices only focuses on Western explains, “When Apple made the the design direction of the entire cultures, so this only gives a limited, iPhone, it didn’t throw together some smartphone market. The major non- ethnocentric perspective. This means cheap-o bare-bones firmware. It took Apple smartphones have evolved to that even people all over the world use OS X, its full-featured desktop operat- resemble the physical appearance and the same devices, the way that they ing system, and somehow squished it mimic the performance of the iPhone are used can differ depending on the down to fit inside the iPhone’s elegant (Carrington, 2012). context. Thus, to get a more holistic glass-and-stainless-steel case. That picture of the social impact of tech- makes the iPhone more than just a The iPhone touchscreen interface nology, it is important to look at the gadget. It’s a genuine handheld, walk- has also created new rituals of beha- ways that smartphones have shaped around computer, the first device that vior that impact the way that we in- experiences across cultures. really deserves the name.” teract with our devices. Touching our screens is performative: we know García-Montes et al. (2006) conduc- The interface and material qualities of that we must touch with the tips of ted their research in collectivist cul- iPhones are designed so that the user our fingers, we know that we must tures, and investigated changes in the can form a very personal and intim- touch with a certain optimum level self that result from the use of mobile ate relationship with the object. Most of pressure, and we know that dif- phones. They found that in Spain “the notably, the shiny glass iPhone screen ferent gestures produce different re- mobile phone promotes the devel- is essentially a mirror. It is a subtle, sponses. We know what will happen opment of an individual uncoupled but intentional design decision that al- when we touch each of our apps, we from traditional institutional forms” lows users to see their literal reflection expect that each screen should change (p 78) and that “the mobile phone in the screen of their phone. Similarly, almost instantaneously, and any de- considerably increases the degree of the size of the object is “not insigni- viation from this script feels jarring. uncertainty of any appointment or ficant”, as Carrington (2012) explains, Thus, our touch is an aspect of our arrangement” (p 75). While this may “small screens impact on what can reliance, and we create a co-depend- not sound problematic in an individu- be viewed via the device; the small ent, almost human, relationship with alistic culture, this can have negative touchscreen keyboard potentially our technology. Our identities do be- consequences in communities that shapes what can be keyed in… how- come connected to our phones, for value connectivity. A lax approach to ever the small screen size is balanced example, through fingerprint recog- punctuality and reliability can be seen by extremely high resolution and the nition, whereby our phone will only as disrespectful. Another consequence uncluttered nature of the interface unlock if it detects our touch. This is of the mobile phone in Spain was that design” (p 30). The screen size was a very deliberate design decision that “the frontiers between the public and designed for minimal information to reinforces the intimacy between ob- private self became blurred and less be displayed, but for optimal media ject and user. solid” (p 72). Thus, in some contexts, viewing. Additionally, the iPhone the mobile phone could be perceived battery life lasts approximately 12-15 Cross Cultural Perspectives as a disruptive technology, rather than hours before needing to be recharged. a constructive one. This prompts users to charge it every Farman (2012) posits, “technology is night when they go to sleep, and to not culturally situated, but it is a force Pertierra (2005) looks at these same start using their phone as soon as they driving culture,” (p 24). Undoubtedly, dynamics within Philippine society. wake up in the morning. Because the the widespread use of digital devices He points out that there is a large iPhone keeps the same schedule as its has affected and shaped our modern global divide between those who have users, it is able to function as a daily culture. Specifically, mobile techno- access to modern technology, and companion. logy has personalized communication those who do not. He refers to this as in an unprecedented way, whereby the “digital divide”, which he argues is While Apple did not invent the touch- our mobile phones “refer exclus- being exacerbated by mobile techno- screen, they arguably “reinvented” it. ively to an individual” (Geser, 2003). logy. I would agree with his statement Since its launch in 2007, the iPhone However, the majority of research in that those who are not connected has become a “dominant design”, that looks at the social impact of mo- to the digital world are excluded from

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 61 A family takes a selfie in Makati, Philippines. TIME Magazine’s top rated “Selfiest City in the World” some major aspects of contemporary As an anecdotal experience, I have What are the generational effects of life. Oftentimes, those who are ex- noticed that most people in Pakistan this? cluded live in the Global South, are – even in rural areas – own or have poor, are female, and are illiterate. access to a mobile phone. Mobile However, mobile phones also can be What are the consequences of being technology is an affordable way for seen as liberating technologies. Per- excluded when the digital world gets people who live in remote and under- tierra (2005) found that “Texting al- more diverse, interconnected, and developed areas to stay connected to lows Filipinos to express themselves inextricably linked from the physical their loved ones, even if electricity is in new ways. They text what they world? sparse. Most mobile phones can con- would not normally say in a face-to- nect to the Internet, and data coverage face encounter. This has led to new The Philippines has a culture where is more prevalent, cheaper, and faster ways of relating with others as well household members generally share in Pakistan than it is in Canada. How- as opened areas of inner-subjective resources, but Pertierra (2005) found ever, most smartphone interfaces and reflection. New and radical identities that over 75% of mobile phone users keyboards are still designed for com- become possible” (p 27). In other cross report exclusive use and ownership munication in English, whereas most cultural studies in Japan, Afghanistan, of their phone, and respondents in- Pakistanis do not speak, read, or write and England, users have described the dicated that they value the privacy af- in English. Some smartphones have increased level of safety that their mo- forded by their mobile phone (p 43). an Urdu option as well, but Urdu is bile phone affords them as “empower- This is an interesting phenomenon, mostly used in large, cosmopolitan cit- ing” (García-Montes et al., 2006; and Pertierra (2005) argues that “the ies, not smaller cities or towns where Campbell, 2008; Srivastava, 2005). rate of exclusive and personal use of people speak regional or provincial Additionally, mobile technology has mobile phones indicates that new pat- languages. What does this mean for a also become a way for people to save, terns of individualism may be emer- society that has just over 50% literacy spend, and transfer money, for ex- ging” (p 30) in an otherwise collect- rate (PBS, 2009)? How does this affect ample using M-PESA, which has been ivist society. What are the long-term people’s ability to communicate in has been lauded for “giving millions effects of this? their regional languages and dialects? of people access to the formal finan-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 62 cial system and for reducing crime in geist: society’s obsession with fitness, long-term consequences of increased otherwise largely cash-based societies” beauty, and health, but perhaps there smartphone use will be, but we can (William & Tavneet, 2010). are deeper consequences for this be- already see that mobile technology has havior. Van Den Eede (2014) suggests augmented our human experience in Mobile Futures that “if [smartphones, apps, etc.] en- unforeseen ways, and has created new hance our in-born tracking abilities, and exciting opportunities for innov- To look back at the original question one can also expect them to numb ation, subversion, and creativity. of how digital devices extend the self, those very abilities to a certain extent,” it is necessary to ask, what is the self? (p 167). Whether this is true or not, SAMAA AHMED We can think of the self as an abstract it is something to consider. What do combination of our body and mind, we lose by outsourcing this process to References situated within a social context, and technology? can investigate whether our devices Ahuvia, A. (2005). Beyond the Extended Self: extend these aspects of our lives. Barr, et al. (2015) argues for “smart- Loved Objects and Consumers’ Identity Narrat- phone use as an instantiation of the ives. Journal Of Consumer Research, Volume 32 In a very literal sense, one’s phone can extended mind” (p 473). Because of (1), pp. 171-184. be seen as a prosthetic, which Brey the wealth of knowledge accessible at Ahmed, S. & Lawrence, E. (2016). Politics of (2000) argues, “extends the function our fingertips, we no longer need to Touch in a Digital Context. OCADU DOCC 16. of the individual organism… and acts remember/memorize as much, nor do Medium, medium.com. as an extensions of the ‘social organ- we need to look very far for inform- ism’ as well, that is, extensions of so- ation. Sparrow et al. (2011) explain, Barr, N., Pennycook, G., Stolz, J. A., & Fugelsang, cial groups or societ- “the Internet has be- J. A. (2015). The brain in your pocket: Evidence ies,” (p 13). In essence, “PEOPLE FORGET come a primary form that Smartphones are used to supplant thinking. we have shifted much ITEMS THEY THINK of external or trans- Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 48, pp. 473-480. of our functionality to WILL BE AVAILABLE active memory, where our most important di- EXTERNALLY AND information is stored Beck, U., & Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2002). Indi- gital devices, particu- REMEMBER ITEMS collectively outside vidualization: Institutionalized individualism larly our smartphones. ourselves.” This has and its social and political consequences. Lon- THEY THINK WILL Our phones carry all changed how we prior- don, Sage. sorts of important in- NOT BE AVAILABLE itize information, with Belk, R. W. (2013). Extended Self in a Digital formation, from our Sparrow et al. (2011) World. Journal of Consumer Research, Volume debit card number, to a digital copy of finding that “people forget items they 40 (3), pp. 477-500 our boarding pass. If my phone can act think will be available externally and as a proxy for my bank account details remember items they think will not Benson, P. (2011). Marshall McLuhan on the and my identification card, how can it be available.” These results suggest Mobile Phone. Philosophy Now, Issue 87, philo- not be a material part of myself? that human memory is adapting to the sophynow.org. Retrieved 14 April 2017. process of new computing and mobile Brey, P. (2000). Technology as Extension of Hu- Research that shows that mobile tech- technology. man Faculties. Metaphysics, Epistemology, and nology has influenced, and extended, Technology. Research in Philosophy and Tech- the ways that we view our own bod- Smartphones obviously extend the so- nology, Volume 19. ies. For example, we have an increased cial functions of the self. They help us interest in self-tracking, and have cre- to connect, communicate, and share Campbell, M. (2005). The impact of the mobile ated new habits around monitoring information with others. Because phone on young people’s social life. Proceedings Social Change in the 21st Century. Queensland our behavior, that are facilitated by they are always connected to the In- University of Technology, Queensland. technology. Wolf (2010) calls this the ternet, we are constantly reminded construction of the “quantified self”, of other people through our applica- Campbell, S. (2008). Perceptions of Mobile whereby we view our bodies in terms tions, and as such, phones act as a site Phone Use in Public: The Roles of Individualism, of numbers, inputs and outputs. Ar- of self-expression and behavior regu- Collectivism, and Focus of the Setting. Commu- guably, this is a reflection of the zeit- lation. It is too early to tell what the nication Reports, Volume 21 (2), pp. 70-81.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 63 Carrington, V. (2012). Roxie’s iPhone: An Object ences, pp. 424–57. Zeller, B. (2011). Steve Jobs and the Cult of Apple. Ethnography. Language and Literacy, Volume The University of Chicago Divinity School, di- 14 (4), pp. 27-40. Leach, N. (2006). Forget Heidegger. Bucharest: vinity.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 14 April 2017. Paideia. Carrol, J., Howard, S., Vetere, F., Peck, J., & Murphy, J. (2001). Identity, power and frag- McArthur, E. (2012). The iPhone Erfahrung: SAMAA AHMED mentation in cyberspace: Technology appropri- Siri, the Auditory Unconscious, and Walter ation by young people. Department of Informa- Benjamin’s “Aura.” PAMLA Conference. Seattle SAMAA AHMED IS A DIASPORIC PAKISTANI tion Systems, University of Melbourne. University, Seattle, WA. VISUAL ARTIST, DESIGNER, AND WRITER. SHE IS CURRENTLY PURSUING A MAS- Chipchase, J. (2007). The anthropology of mo- Nielson, P. & Hanseth, O. (2010). Towards a TER’S IN DESIGN IN THE DIGITAL FU- bile phones. TED2007, ted.com. Retrieved 15 Design Theory of Usability and Generativity. TURES PROGRAM AT OCAD UNIVERSITY April 2017. 18th European Conference on Information Sys- IN TORONTO, CANADA. SHE IS INTER- tems. ESTED IN THE INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN Clayton, R. B., Leshner, G. & Almond, A. (2015), GLOBAL CULTURE AND DIGITAL TECH- The Extended iSelf: The Impact of iPhone Sep- Nourbakhsh, I. (2013). Robot futures. Cam- NOLOGIES. HER RESEARCH FOCUSES ON aration on Cognition, Emotion, and Physiology. bridge, Mass. MIT Press. EXPLORING INNOVATIVE WAYS TO TACKLE Journal of Computer-Mediated Communica- SOCIOPOLITICAL CHALLENGES IN THE DI- tion, Volume 20, pp. 119–135. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). (2009). GITAL AGE, USING AN APPROACH GROUN- Pakistan Social And Living Standards Measure- DED IN CRITICAL THEORY AND DESIGN Elgan, M. (2013). Why the ‘i’ in iPhone Will ment Survey. Government of Pakistan. Stand For ‘Identity’. Cult of Mac, cultofmac.com. Retrieved 17 April 2017. Pertierra, R. (2005). Mobile Phones, Identity and Discursive Intimacy. Human Technology, Else, L. & Turkle, S. (2006). Living online: I’ll Volume 1 (1), pp. 23-44. have to ask my friends. New Scientist (2569). Scott, R. (1983). 1984 (Advertisement). Apple Farman, J. (2012). Embodiment and the Mobile Inc. Interface. Mobile interface theory: Embodied Space and Locative Media. New York: Rout- Sparrow, B., Liu, J., & Wegner, D.M. (2011). ledge. pp. 16-34. Google effects on memory: Cognitive consequences of having information at our finger- García-Montes, J., Caballero-Muñoz, D., & tips. Science, Volume 333 (6043), pp. 776–778. Pérez-Álvarez, M. (2006). Changes in the self resulting from the use of mobile phones. Media, Stone, A. R. (1991). Will The Real Body Please Culture & Society, Volume 28 (1), pp. 67-82. Stand Up? Cyberspace: First Steps, ed. Michael Benedikt. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 81-118. Geser, H. (2003). Towards a Sociological Theory of the Mobile Phone. Srivastava, L. (2005). Mobile phones and the evolution of social behavior. Behavior & Inform- Goggin, G. (2009). Adapting the mobile phone: ation Technology, Volume 24 (2), pp. 111-129. The iPhone and its consumption. Continuum, Volume 23 (2), pp. 231-244. Turkle, S. (2012). Connected, but alone?. TED2012, ted.com. Retrieved 15 April 2017. Griffin, A. (2016). What the ‘I’ in iPhone stands for. The Independent, theindependent.co.uk. Van Den Eede, Y. (2014). Extending Extension: Retrieved 17 April 2017. A Reappraisal of the Technology-as-Extension Idea through the Case of Self-Tracking Tech- Grossman, L. (2007). Invention of the year: The nologies. In Design, Mediation, and the Posthu- iPhone. TIME, time.com. Retrieved 17 April man, pp. 151-172. 2017. William, J. & Tavneet, S (2010). The Economics Haraway, D. (1991). A Cyborg Manifesto: Sci- of M-PESA. Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press. ence, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century. Theorizing Feminism: Wolf, G. (2010). The quantified self. TED@ Parallel Trends in the Humanities and Social Sci- Cannes, ted.com. Retrieved 18 April 2017.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 64 Shouldn’t you be working?, Silvio Lorusso (2016) THE AESTHETICS OF PRODUCTIVE ANXIETY Silvio Lorusso and the entreprecariat

by Nicola Bozzi

Spinning the Wheel real-time systems are revealed to be as ineffective as any decision-making or resource distribution model; they per- The Best Is Yet To Come (2012) is a webpage with a random petuate the same hegemonic inequalities and commit the sequence of preloader gifs, spinning endlessly and uselessly same logical errors. The throbber’s role is therefore to in time. Apparently busy, de facto idle. According to a “mollify” users enough to keep them within the general study undertaken over a period of two weeks, people spent flow of information “by reframing non-action as a normal- a grand total of 60 years looking at those buffering icons, ized process of data exchange.” Thing is, the moment of in- waiting and waiting while data was invisibly crunched be- frastructural non-productivity captured by Lorusso is per- hind the interface. The piece, by artist, designer and the- haps the only escape from another productive loop. Within orist Silvio Lorusso, reminds me of an e-flux essay[http:// a digital environment where sociality and work chase each www.e-flux.com/architecture/superhumanity/68658/ other non-stop, the artist’s contemplation of the loading beyond-the-self/] by Jack Self. According to the author, wheel is a much needed break. It is as close to zen as it gets.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 65 Networked Optimization, Silvio Lorusso and Sebastian Schmieg (2013)

TBIYTC is probably the most abstract piece of Lorusso’s, and now, in my place and time – there is no transcendental but it encapsulates quite well the web-savvy aesthetics of outside. One must think a little like a corporation to engage productive anxiety that encompasses his heterogeneous with postindustrialism” (Liu, 2004, 387). practice. I first became interested in Silvio’s work when writing an article about Networked Optimization, a series A big chunk of Liu’s book deals with the peculiarities of of self-help e-books that he and fellow artist Sebastian knowledge workers as an emerging new class, and their Schmieg had hacked so that only the bits most highlighted relation to culture. An extrusion of the middle-class (so by other readers would show. The result was a printed wide to be deemed “universal”, in the words of Gouldner), series of mostly blank pages, delivering the gist of best- this new social group does not fit the binary opposition sellers like How to Win Friends & Influence People - minus between workers and owners defined by Marxism. In a the cumbersome act of actually going through the whole fuzzier fashion, it identifies with the code of profession- book, courtesy of crowd-sourcing. The work struck me for alism, but without fully enjoying all its perks. This disillu- its technological and aesthetic elegance, but also because it sioned multitude is too deeply embedded within a political spoke for a lifestyle and a “structure of feeling” (if we are cyberlibertarianism to truly be counter-cultural and can to use Raymond Williams’s expression) I am familiar with. only aspire to the detached, tech-aware ethos of “cool”. Liu The emotional dimension of Lorusso’s oeuvre is extremely describes it as a “bad attitude” – one that disqualifies its own relatable to someone who, like me and countless others, environment by a lack of faith, rather than participation. finds semi-comfortable shelter under the wide umbrella of knowledge work. The Laws of Cool dedicates many pages to the analysis of management culture and pertaining literature. If the dis- Defined in turn as creative or immaterial, knowledge work cipline has spilled over into all segments of society and is has been the subject of much theorizing, not insignificantly perceived as a universal cultural model, the new field of because it hits close to home for many theorists. One of “identity management” becomes a sandbox for the simu- the last pages of Alan Liu’s The Laws of Cool (2004), a key lation of diversity and the cultivation of personality as a text on the topic, reads like an autobiographic confession: professional asset. The removal of history is a crucial step “I criticize postindustrialism from the inside because – here in this direction: flattened within the modular flexibility of

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 66 The Best Is Yet To Come, Silvio Lorusso (2012) the “team” system, all cultural identities are equivalent and munity destruction and are being resisted by neighborhood replaceable. Going back to the endlessly spinning wheel activists. Aesthetic accountability, in this sense, is way in Lorusso’s piece, the end of history declared by Francis ahead of algorithmic accountability. Fukuyama and repeatedly disputed by, well, history, it’s at least a reality within the hypnotic suspension of a “best” Towards the end of The Laws of Cool, the author outlines that is, quite surely, not coming. ways in which the academic criticality of the humanities can help the viral aesthetics of the really cool - the un- The Entreprecariat bridled, borderline terroristic attitude of new media art - confirm its cultural relevance against the “deep norm of The main rationale for Liu’s book is the self-conscious ne- history”. As a necessarily multi-talented artist, working cessity for the humanities to find renewed relevance in so- with at least one foot in academia, Lorusso is producing a ciety. Creativity is everywhere, yet it is now mandatory for substantial contribution to contextualize his own work and academia and artists alike to justify their work in terms of at the same time push it deeper into critical territory. The impact, as well as quantify and map the networking po- Entreprecariat, his research blog hosted at the excellently tential of their output. While Liu went to sleep as a cul- para-academic Institute of Network Cultures, is thus per- tural critic and woke up as a data processor, the artist today haps his most interesting piece. is called to be a data analyst and a neighborhood activist. From Thomas Hirschhorn’s Gramsci Monument in the As many have tried defining the collective subject both me New York projects to Martha Rosler’s traveling urbanism and Silvio are a part of – from Florida’s overly optimistic library, artists have been proving increasingly sensible in Creative Class to Bifo’s historically conscious Cognitariat, terms of their responsibility as urban agents (as well as pro- via the cultural stereotype of the Hipster – his simple con- ducing increasingly reading-heavy works). But while the ceptual reworking of “entrepreneur” and “precariat” is par- social implications of big data on pre-policing and other ticularly fit for the aesthetics of his work, which combines social issues have only recently started to be questioned, glitch episodes with the self-deprecating irony of memes. artist-run spaces in fast-changing LA, no matter how tact- The blog outlines an anatomy of the Entreprecariat by ana- ful, are sometimes identified as clear harbingers of com- lyzing its most widespread phenomena – the distributed

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 67 office, for example – and dissecting infrastructure of Skype. trepreneurial dimension of the pre- media objects like memes or ad cam- “Dedicating a year to these themes is cariat after working on the KickEnded paigns. scary, because I think it’s risky to brand (2014), a KickStarter clone featuring myself this way,” Silvio tells me. “You only those projects that harvested In one of his blog posts, for example, know how hip all the talk about auto- 0$, which prompted to ask himself Silvio addresses a recruiting campaign mation is, but talking about precarity whether he could call himself an en- for Fiverr, a marketplace platform is not sexy at all. It’s not like 2005, the trepreneur. Now, the hope is for the that connects clients and designers of- days of San Precario.” The patron saint term to be used by other people as fering their services for as little as 5$. of precarious workers, San Precario well, perhaps competing with other The site profile its potential users like was an iconic attempt to encapsulate a less critical tags for self-branding that this: “You eat coffee for lunch. You fol- diffused frustration within a (charac- are designed by the very corporations low through on your follow through. teristically Italian) religious imagery. that inspire the semi-sustainable life- Sleep deprivation is your drug of Although the condition of precarity is style Silvio is studying. choice. You might be a doer.” “Doer” widespread, it seems the concept has is an inherently productive label, al- different undertones depending on The Nomadic Office most epically stoic in spinning under- context. “It’s interesting. I did some paid efforts and over-working into a research and here in the Netherlands (Self)branding as a Doer or a Maker is nobilitating work ethic, fueled by caf- the term precariat is quite academic, the result of a continuous practice of feinated delusions. Reflecting on the unlike in France,” Lorusso explains. imagination, something Lorusso sees self-branding rhetoric of best-sellers “In Italy, which I think is the most in- as highly strategic. “There is an issue like “The Startup of You and The teresting case, the term is mostly used of self-perception. Let’s assume I am Brand Called You”, by the media. I always say forced to work on the move, what kind THE PATRON SAINT as well as the net- the problem with the pre- of representation of myself do I want to working platforms OF PRECARIOUS cariat – this kind of semi- give? In terms of personal branding, it sustaining them WORKERS, SAN middle-class precariat – is makes more sense to portray yourself (e.g. LinkedIn), PRECARIO WAS AN it cannot identify with as an autonomous, independent pro- Lorusso has been ICONIC ATTEMPT being precarious.” Silvio fessional, rather than someone who particularly ef- TO ENCAPSULATE uses an interesting ana- is working in a crowded café because fective in en- A DIFFUSED logy: “It’s like being outed you don’t have an office to work.” This capsulating the versus coming out. One all-encompassing, aspirational dimen- FRUSTRATION anxiety-inducing would like to come out as sion of work links the Entreprecariat yet compulsively WITHIN A RELIGIOUS precarious, but it’s not a to another figure, a dominant one in motivated pre- IMAGERY good strategy to do so. On the current rhetoric of digital work dicament of the the other hand, you’re con- and urban redevelopment: the Di- contemporary Foucauldian “enter- stantly outed by the media. It’s used as gital Nomad. The label seems quite prise-unit”. With Mark Fisher and a weapon against millennials, often popular: travel blogs, Facebook com- Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Silvio argues linked to the rhetoric of our genera- munities with members in the thou- for a union of the Entreprecariat tion being a bunch of ‘bamboccioni’ sands, online platforms helping users around common problems such as (Italian for ‘mama’s boys’).” The goal make sure they rent the best desk in depression and “feels”, adding a layer of the Entreprecariat research blog is the coolest co-working location – the of meme-consciousness to it. Since thus to develop tools to ease coming business ecology around the Digital my own research deals with the com- out as precarious rather than being Nomad is big, and growing. Commer- modification and circulation of ste- outed as such. “The Entreprecariat is cial enterprises like travel company reotypical cultural identities, I im- my escamotage to do just that, with Remote Year (around 260,000 likes mediately knew I had to talk to Silvio a degree of irony or dadaism, using on Facebook) encourage workers who about his project. The quotes in this something that has yet to be semanti- are already remote, or wish to become text were extracted (to use a term fa- cized by the media.” so, to apply for a 12-month experience miliar to regular readers of immaterial across as many different cities. For a work literature) via the proprietary Lorusso decided to focus on the en- (substantial) monthly price, the com-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 68 pany provides travel and accommod- ation, as well as a degree of support in helping selected applicants get their employers on board with the remote idea. Most importantly, the selection process provides a level of exclusiv- ity and curation that is itself résumé- worthy – and thus justifies working to pay the fee sustaining your own priv- ileged working condition. The rich and lively network of travel bloggers, posting photos and videos on social media, helps disseminate an inspiring provocation: if we can do it, you can – and, probably, should - do it. If you follow the advice, share and per- Shouldn’t you be working?, Silvio Lorusso (2016) haps donate, it’s doable – if you don’t try, you’ll forever wonder what might semi-leisurely environment - from a some time in Milan to establish a pro- have been. The Digital Nomad is thus laptop to a toilet - to act as a perpetual fessional network. There is always an escaping Alvin Toffler’s “electronic memento of the laboral duties ahead. ambivalence between social pressure cottage” to find solace on a similarly Named after the text that StayFocusd, and personal will.” wired seaside swimming pool. a browser plugin with more than 600,000 users, prompts when your al- A WiFi powered working vacation Unsurprisingly, Lorusso does not lotted time on social media and other is then still a relatively adventurous identify as a Digital Nomad. “I feel procrastination-friendly sites is over, endeavor, reserved to an enterprising SYBW there is a strong rhetorical push to- allows any surface to remind minority. Most creative workers are wards the irrelevance of physical remote workers that they are still still bound to a place where their hu- space, this idea you can just bring tethered to the machine. Of course, man connections are physically avail- your Mac anywhere, but it’s a very though, the line between sarcasm and able - they will enjoy tropical vegeta- elitist vision of what it means to work practical advice is thin here: will you tion only on the interior wallpapers of today,” he points out. “Only a small laugh it off or be triggered back into laptop-friendly coffee houses, as they percentage of the so-called creative productive mode? sit by the nearest electric socket in a class can work with just a computer corner, brushed by the sympathetic and WiFi. I can work on the train, The idea of the Entreprecariat or the caress of a fern. but I need a recurrent confirmation Nomad as a condition, rather than an provided by physical proximity. To aspiration, is part of Lorusso’s histor- Kyle Chayka defined the globalized get paid, I have to be in the office by ical perspective as an academic, but it aesthetics of these new spaces of dis- contract. Few people can really work is also part of his personal narrative. tributed work – the aforementioned independently from a concrete space, “The concept of Entreprecariat has a coffee houses, co-working and co-liv- and I think it can also be unsustainable sort of cognitive dissonance you can ing spaces, AirBnBs – as “AirSpace”. on a psycho-physical level.” find in the Digital Nomad as well,” In a skeptical article on The Verge, he tells me. “When you come across the journalist describes the sterile, One of Lorusso’s pieces – perhaps the those articles about working for a faux-artisanal style of interior design only offline one - ironically addresses Silicon Valley start-up from a café encouraged by Silicon Valley compan- the ubiquity of the workplace. Printed in India, the idea is that this is a per- ies, pointing out how this kind of aes- on transparent background, in a no- sonal decision, while necessity is not thetic gentrification is accompanying frills, operational typeface, Shouldn’t accounted for. In Italy, for example, if actual gentrification. In fact, we might You Be Working? (2016) is a series of you want to work in the design field add, this type of copy-paste develop- stickers to be placed in any leisurely or you probably need to spend at least ment that has been putting its mark

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 69 just a provocation. However, it is the symptom of a wider cultural awareness, one that Liu doesn’t fail to outline in The Laws of Cool. As he argues, the co-optation of subculture by the middle-class transforms what was once the appropriation of technology, aimed to hijack its rationality towards unproductive techniques, into a productive mode of self-branding itself. While inescapably embedded within the system, “cool” workers manage to cope with it by adopting a “bad attitude”. As a “code of awareness”, for Liu “cool” is “too fundamental and in- Shouldn’t you be working?, Silvio Lorusso (2016) choate itself to be called an identity,” but it is “nevertheless the formative on cities all over the world – driven by The scary thing is dystopia and real- material of imagined identities prom- “quality” tourism and freelancing - is ity are not separate anymore, like in ising knowledge workers some hope arguably pushing towards the ultimate the ‘boring dystopia’ idea described by of alternative lives of knowledge” post-gentrification stage: short-term Mark Fisher. A dystopia that doesn’t (Liu, 2004, 184). communities based on professional shock anymore, which might even affinity and networking potential that make you smile.” Funny enough, the It turns out, hope is not so alive and establish themselves just as the prom- same year the AirSpace article came some of those lives are not so altern- ise of diverse living environments, out on the Verge a co-working space ative: while squatting is increasingly once defended by a now shrinking so- by the same name was launched – replaced by subsidized guardianship cial housing supply, is falling short. unironically, I presume – in London. and counter-cultural energies become enmeshed in real-estate cycles, the In terms of aesthetics, Silvio has an The idea of the office as a dialect- aesthetics of disillusion coalesce into interesting idea about the office. “I ical space that can engender subver- curious and perhaps worrying forms think at the moment there is an emer- sion has an accelerationist ring to it, of subcultural identification. ging nostalgia towards the office. All a point of view that Lorusso doesn’t these hip co-working spaces that are share. But the concept of Entrepre- Hip to Be Square popping up everywhere are obviously cariat is contradictory by definition. a cool, hipster response to a logistical “Greyness can become a liberation, if Patton Oswalt, an American stand- issue. However, the office had a sort opposed to this forced enthusiasm. I up comedian who experienced the of authority to it, against which you think it’s interesting. I see this double, transformation of San Francisco from could develop some tactics. When paradoxical process: the city is becom- a counter-culture capital to a techie you go to Starbucks it’s about you cre- ing an office, you look for WiFi and paradise first hand, has a bit[https:// ating your own productive space. The sockets. But the office is becoming a www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqxt- freelancer becomes its own manager theme park.” aJfH7UA] that goes: “If I ever have a and space has a very important role. kid I’m gonna be a fucking amazing These spaces have become dystopian, Lorusso’s attitude and nostalgia for father. I’m gonna be the most bor- they are full of social propaganda. A an oppressive working environment ing, hateful father on the planet. All co-working space in Amsterdam, for - the likes of those evoked in the my friends who had hippie parents – example, is covered with slogans like: quasi-Kafkian Fantozzi, a cult-ser- you know what they did when they “Everybody should like everybody”, ies of Italian comedies, or at the very got out of high school? Got married, which remind me of the dystopian least the Geto Boys-powered nerd had kids, settled down, moved to the The Circle. Office Space sci-fi novel by Dave Eggers, rebellion of - is perhaps suburbs. And ruined everything.” The

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 70 The Best Is Yet To Come, Silvio Lorusso (2012) quote above resonates with a recent Vice article by Max people to do as the police say when arrested. And I guess Daly about decreasing drug use among teenagers: an en- I want to wear it on my sleeve. Which is funny thinking couraging indicator that nonetheless is apparently linked back. But I don’t think you get it either. Its not ironic, not to increasing pressure on performance, competition and at heart. Its for real. Normcore evens the playing field in public image. The bit might also give us a clue or two many ways, but it isn’t easy to pull off unless you have the about the genealogy of the person who commented a Mute physical attributes to bring to the table, and it certainly isn’t Magazine article [http://www.metamute.org/editorial/ cheap. NorthFace is fairly spend, if you look. Its a bit elitist, fifth-column/notes-normcore] titled “Notes on Normcore” even. I guess I am a rebel enough to say I approve. Isn’t that as follows: “Normcore is at its roots conservative, and right funny too? That normcore is one way to shout that people now, I am all for it. The time for leather jackets is done. are NOT all the same….or even equal.” That coincides with being done with wanting universal healthcare. I just want lower taxes, less immigrants, and for Dated 2014, the comment is quite exemplary of the con-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 71 dition described earlier. Described defensive anticipation of a further at- such alternative politics are perhaps by trend forecasting group K-Hole tack.” best represented in the Alt-Right phe- in 2013 as an attitude, rather than a nomenon whose popularity exploded particular code or dress, Normcore The 99% movement was argu- before the Trump election in 2016: emerged for a while as a type of aes- ably Western youth’s most politic- unsurprisingly, the Alt-Right’s sworn thetic of the mediocre, a proud celeb- ally-driven attempt at collective sub- enemies were the quickly acronym- ration of the “nothing special” some- jectivation in a decade devoid of a ized SJW, or Social Justice Warriors, times identified with the style (and dominant counter-cultural aesthetic comprising third-wave feminists, in- perhaps the attached cynicism) of like the ones that marked the previous tersectional identitarians and PC reg- Seinfeld characters. Clothing-wise, ones – punk, hippie, early hip-hop, ulators. Wikipedia defines it as unisex and etc. Albeit ultimately failing to con- Normcore, then, before the identit- consciously undistinguished rather jure up a common political program, arian, neo-fascist simulation of Alt- than carelessly unfash- the imaginary effort Right memes, embodies an aesthetic ionable. As the crowd- SUCH FORMATTING was a noble endeavor coagulation of the frustrated, cynical sourced encyclopedia OF IMAGINATION to bridge across style sprit of a highly-educated, politic- reminds us, the fact ALSO REFLECTS and class, reconnecting ally-disillusioned middle class. that the AP Stylebook PATHOLOGICALLY ON to a sort of materialism added the label in 2016 COMMUNICATION AND against capitalist spec- Formatted Identities and Utopian is an indicator that the SELF-EXPRESSION ulation. Feelings term is not much in Politically, then, the news but not quite dead either. Normcore is perhaps the aesthetic re- In the dark clarity of Mark Fisher’s flux of the performativity trap Geert Capitalist Realism (2009), the psychic In terms of cultural perspective, as Lovink talks about in Social Media effects of capital have become so em- the commented article by Benedict Abyss (2016). Far from being an iden- bedded within us that incorporation Seymour argues, Normcore was a titarian, the Dutch theorist nonethe- has now become “precorporation”: post-hipster aesthetics that, by giv- less points out the incapacity to build the pre-emptive formatting and shaping away with subcultural style, fully coalitions as a major flaw of the Occupy ing of desires, aspirations and hopes embraced the technologically-wired, movement. “When activism promotes by capitalist culture (2009, 9). Such politically disillusioned zeitgeist of the itself as a counter-culture,” Lovink ar- formatting of imagination also reflects millennial generation. gues, “the ability of its memes to travel pathologically on communication and outside the issue-context becomes self-expression, regimenting the very Seymour writes: “We are in the (post) limited and starts to run contrary to networks one would expect to em- hipster zone, the magic circle where the 99% slogan” (2016, 186). Lovink’s power the flourishing of multiplicity. formerly punk or outsider styles got call to get rid of the “libertarian/liberal transvalued is now reserved for the hipster image” effectively highlights While Liu recognizes the “oxymor- beatification of the mainstream itself.” the aesthetic dimension of activism onic, even manic-depressive” emo- The author goes on: “Normcore as in the age of social media, often dis- tional state of “cool” (Liu, 2004, 235), the simulacrum (from above) of the missed by terms like “slacktivism” or according to Vito Campanelli, writ- vanishing middle, the oligarcho-ar- “clicktivism”. ing in “Web Aesthetics” (2010), the isto-creative’s objectification of what web is characterized by an autistic is objectively vanishing? Normcore Liu also acknowledges the political mode of expression, constituted by as dressing-up-as-shepherds-style paralysis of the “cool” into a cyber- repetitive actions and loss of contact pre-revolutionary elite condescen- libertarian pose that puts individual with external reality – a situation he sion. Or post-Occupy spasm - of liberties – free speech above all – associates to bloggers and review- shame and appropriation? A fashion over social justice. Significantly, cool ers in particular. The Italian scholar derivative, a spread, various forms of alternative politics are more com- also highlights how monolingualism insurance at once, a mugging against fortable with postindustrialism than is flattening dialogue into expressive being mugged, a dressing down in NGOs and labor activists are. In fact, clichés that are always repeated and typify a diffuse aesthetic in which

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 72 Shouldn’t you be working?, Silvio Lorusso (2016) contents are reduced to their formal and is an unexplored potential on a (socially) productive feelings. qualities, while “any semantic, moral political, organizational level. This Liu’s investigation into the laws of or ethical properties are left aside” idea of a collective anxiety, as de- cool does highlight “viral aesthetics” as (Campanelli, 2010, 26-28). scribed in Bifo’s work, might help a possible response to infrastructural people unite, a bit like being a factory domination, but while the scholar Lorusso is aware of the emotional di- worker used to unite past generations. brought net and media art as exem- mension of the Entreprecariat, twisted This idea of mental health, feelings, plary acts of Schumpeterian creative between a communicational push and could lead to the development of or- destruction, the times were not ur- an idiosyncratic pull. “There is obvi- ganizational tools.” gent enough – namely, 2016 had not ously an emergency, as confirmed by happened yet – to talk about a West- all the efforts from governments like Professional, demographic or subcul- wide memetic battle to resuscitate the the UK to campaign for wellbeing, tural labels like Creative Class, Digital Left’s imagination and fend off the also because depression is a logistical Nomad or Normcore put their own retrograde energies of the Alt-Right. problem that affects productivity,” he spin on the millennial/knowledge Perhaps the collective anxiety sweep- tells me. “But there is also an unex- worker condition, herding desires ing the humanities could work as a pressed potential. There are different and expectations towards competitive catalyst. levels of precarious workers. You need self-affirmation or resigned nihilism. to be careful: I focus on a middle-class Maybe Lorusso’s work on a collect- “I think academia is the most affected or post-middle-class, highly educated ive subject to channel a more nuanced by that type of anxiety,” Silvio tells me. Western European workers. You talk emotional cocktail could be an appro- “There is a Twitter account called Aca- about this informally, but profes- priate aesthetic strategy in a utopian demic Pain and it deals with this issue, sionally you wouldn’t want to brand direction. Creating such a collective with some ironic detachment. People yourself as such. This psychological subject could leverage the viral dy- talk a lot about the memetic potential dimension that emerged from the namics of contemporary communic- of the Alt-Right, and I think starting 80s, affecting so-called young people, ation, perhaps even the stereotypical from that type of memetics, based bridges together different social strata approximation of memes, to harvest on self-deprecation, is an interesting

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 73 starting point. It would be useful to see who produces these memes and understand if they can become a flag for a movement.” Self-deprecation might feel a little to Seinfeldian, edging on Normcore, but what Lorusso is aiming for is a type of dialectic shock treatment. “Another thing I see is that schools, especially design schools, are strongly encouraged to take political positions and get involved,” he continues, “but paradoxically that could become problematic, with the risk of reducing activism to a 6-month project - working in a protected space, a sandbox for activism. Think of the Networked Optimization, Silvio Lorusso and Sebastian Schmieg (2013) 1977 movement: students were hand- Fisher, Mark. 2009. Capitalist Realism: Is There ing out flyers outside of factories, now labor and the ones surrounding the No alternative?. London: Zero Books. it is much more atomized.” Instead exploitation –often self-exploitation– of passion and enthusiasm. Further- of designer competitions to solve the Liu, Alan. 2004. The Laws of Cool: Knowledge more, the emotional shouldn’t be lim- world’s problems, then, an aesthetic Work and the Culture of Information. Chicago: strategy could be to renounce insti- ited to its positive spectrum: we must University of Chicago Press. tutional cool altogether. “Perhaps the express discomfort. ‘One laments to Lorusso, Silvio. “Precarity Feels”. The Entre- best thing for an enlightened school find comrades’, to paraphrase Breton. precariat. December 10, 2016. Accessed May would be to go back to a grey, op- Agonize to organize. Hopefully, this attitude would lead to an uncondi- 2, 2017: http://networkcultures.org/entrepre- pressive bureaucratic regime. I think cariat/precarity-feels/ that’s the dilemma of school as a space tional form of solidarity, and to a re- fusal of an idea of class based on the of organization. The greyness of bru- Lovink, Geert. 2016. Social Media Abyss: Crit- talism, which is very cool now, is not comparison of material deprivation. ical Internet Cultures and the Force of Negation. something I wish for, but I wonder Understanding people as emotional Oxford: Polity. what it would engender. Perhaps a subjects, instead of economical ones, Self, Jack. “Beyond the Self”. Superhumanity. boring school would defeat the neo- requires mutual faith.” Perhaps an aesthetics of productive anxiety, then, 2016. Accessed May 2, 2017: e-flux: http:// liberal compulsion towards self-op- www.e-flux.com/architecture/superhuman- can be a start. timization. We should aim towards ity/68658/beyond-the-self/ boredom, bureaucracy, greyness.” NICOLA BOZZI NICOLA BOZZI Ultimately, though, what Silvio feels NICOLA BOZZI WRITES FOR A RANGE OF is needed is a new set of “slogans, References: INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL PUBLICA- memes and chants” for the Entrepre- TIONS INCLUDING DOMUS, ELEPHANT, Benedict, Seymour. “Notes on Normcore”. Mute. cariat, maybe even drawing inspira- RIVISTA STUDIO AND PRISMO. AS A May 29, 2014. Accessed May 2, 2017: http:// tion from the antagonistic magick of PHD RESEARCHER IN MEDIA AND CUL- www.metamute.org/editorial/fifth-column/ the Alt-Right. TURAL STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF notes-normcore In one of his most interesting Entre- SALFORD, MANCHESTER, HE FOCUSES ON THE CIRCULATION OF STEREOTYPICAL precariat posts, before a final appeal Chayka, Kyle. 2016. “Welcome to AirSpace: How IDENTITIES IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA to San Precario, Lorusso writes: “The Silicon Valley Helps Spread the Same Sterile Aes- AND BIG DATA, AS WELL AS THE ROLE OF thetics Across the World”. The Verge. August emotional is political, and as such it ART IN SOCIETY. YOU CAN FOLLOW HIS 3, 2016. Accessed May 2, 2017: https://www. must be acknowledged. The sphere of RESEARCH ON THE SCHIZOCITIES BLOG theverge.com/2016/8/3/12325104/airbnb-aes- affectivity shouldn’t be confined to the AT SCHIZOCITIES.COM, OR ON TWITTER: @ thetic-global-minimalism-startup-gentrification traditional boundaries of reproductive SCHIZOCITIES

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 74 EVIL WEB BUSINESSES, ROMANCE SCAMS AND PHONE FRAUD Three artistic case studies deconstructing scammers online identities

by Linda Kronman, Andreas Zingerle

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 75 Megacorp. Installation view (detail)

Since 2010 we have collaborated as There are online communities of so- selves on forums like thescambaiters. the KairUs Art+Research collective called ‘Scambaiters’ who fight back com or 419eater.com, the latter with focusing on the thematic of Internet against online criminals. The act of over 65000 registered users from all fraud and online scams. Subjects of scambaiting arose as a counterattack over the world. These forums focus our research are online scammers, to the so-called ’419 scams’ (1). This on everyday scam types and members vigilante communities of scambaiters online vigilante communities invest- follow their own strategies and ethics and anti-fraud activists, and their use igate scam emails and implement when in contact with scammers. of storytelling and technology. In social engineering (2) techniques to several artworks, we created virtual document, report or warn potential Recent publications (Nooney et al., characters with their on-line repres- victims. Scambaiters are anti-fraud 2014, Renner, 2012) that address entations to be able to safely reply to activists who often use similar tactics scambaiting communities mainly fo- Internet scammers business proposals as scammers, e.g. inventing a scenario cus on how scambaiters troll, prank and dive into their persuasive story and impersonate others to increase the and humiliate scammers by posting worlds. Scamming is a global phe- chances that the victim releases sensit- ridiculous photos of them on online nomenon and victims can be found ive information or money. (Zingerle, forums and putting them on a ‘virtual everywhere with no difference in 2014) Scambaiters have their own pillory’ (3). In our research, we found gender, age or race. To persuade the personal motivations to justify their that the strategies to fight online fraud victim into paying money upfront, the actions. Their motives can range from go far beyond public shaming. scammers create story worlds with ‘get community service and status eleva- rich quickly’ schemes that seem ‘too tion to revenge for being a victim of a Over the last years, we followed these good to be true’. The scammers draw similar scam in the past. (Tuovinen et communities and created several me- on emotions like greed, empathy or al., 2007) Through the documentation dia art installations that show the love. Over centuries the basic scheme and sharing of these plots, scambaiters activist methods of scambaiting com- has adapted to new modes of commu- waste the scammers’ time, exploit their munities. In the following paragraphs, nication: letters, telegraph, fax, phone resources and raise awareness about we want to present three of our re- and Internet. (Brunton, 2012) online fraud. They organize them- cent artistic case studies that relate to

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 76 strategies and technologies used by of “.biz” and 35% “.us” domain pages tools to gather information to file re- fraudsters and anti-fraud activists. analyzed in a sampling of 105 mil- ports with the hosting provider to get lion web pages were fake. Scammers the websites taken off the web. Since Artistic case studies use them to pose as trustworthy and 2007, the group members discontin- professional with the intent to trick ued using web programs such as “Lad 1. The Megacorp. evil business con- people. An anti-fraud activists group Vampire” or “Muguito” to run “Denial glomerate: In the last years, the web called ‘Artists against 419’ (AA419) of Service” (DDoS) attacks against has been increasingly used for end user hosts the biggest open-access data- the websites and instead now use e-commerce to buy goods and ser- base of fake websites. As of May 2017, their own tools and written reports vices. As our everyday consumption this forum has detected over 120,000 to maintain a good relationship with activities move online the number of fraudulent business websites. hosting providers and law enforce- deceptive websites grow. According ment. (Cain, 2004, Brenner, 2007) to research fake websites comprise They use “passive reconnaissance” nearly 20% of the entire web, and 70% and “open source intelligence” (osint) Our research of the AA419 database led to a broader investigation of how this community tracks fake business websites and reports them. Additionally, we wanted to visualize the database by collecting a sample of 1000 fraudulent companies under the umbrella of one big evil corporate conglomerate that wants to take over the world. Inspired by its equally powerful counterparts in science fiction we decided to call it ‘Megacorp.’. The term was coined by William Gib- son and inspired many other authors of the dystopian cyberpunk science fiction genre to create megacorps in their fiction, amongst others the Tyrell corp. (Do Androids dream of Electric sheep), Encom corp. (Tron), Weyland-Yutani (Alien series), Cy- berdyne skynet systems (Terminator).

‘Megacorp.’ visualizes the overall business segments and countries where these fraudulent businesses claim to be present. As a part of the project an interim report was published and in an exhibition set-up, visitors have the chance to browse locally through the repository of the fraudulent websites. Additionally, a corporate presentation video and a location reconnaissance video reflect both the imaginary and the real world outreach of the Mega- corp. Megacorp. Installation setup

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 77 1.1. Open Source Intelligence Tools Furthermore, legal meta-data like lished under non-legit domains. These trade registry number, VAT num- websites, especially in the Banking & AA419 activists use various vernacu- ber or the company address can be Finance segment, are used for phish- lar tools and social engineering tech- checked. ing, and according to the Anti-Ph- niques in order to run background ishing Working Group’s Report (4) checks on suspicious business web- By doing a whois lookup on a targeted there were at least 1,220,523 unique sites. Open source intelligence (osint) domain, you can see when a domain phishing attacks worldwide during refers to intelligence that has been de- was registered, updated and how long 2016, which is a 65 percent increase rived from publicly available sources this registration is valid. Using a re- over 2015. When analyzing different both on- and offline. (Mann, 2008) verse IP-address lookup tool it is pos- cities and countries we focused on the These tools are used in ethical passive sible to gain more insight about all the top 5 and examined what the division reconnaissance to gather as much in- different websites and domains hosted of business segments was in these geo- formation about the target as possible. on that IP-address. Often scammers graphical areas. (Bansal and Arora, 2012). run several websites at once and it is just easier, cheaper and more con- 1.3. Data visualization In this version of reconnaissance, venient to host them under the same activists and hacktivists seek to gain provider. This way, it is often possible To visualize the gathered data and to information that will support their to observe the working methods of a tell a compelling narrative about the political causes or other such ethical group of scammers who operate sev- fake business conglomerate we de- motivations. Combining information eral websites at once. cided to re-enact a corporate present- derived from; whois database queries, ation in form of a fair booth. To Domain name service (DNS) entries, This and further open source intel- achieve this we highlighted the main company registrars or PR-mater- ligence gets reported on the AA419 parts of the data visualizations on ial provides a base to file reports for forum, frequently moderated and roll-up posters and created a corpor- hosting providers and DNS registrars. added to the database. After that, it ate image show-reel that gives a fast Law enforcement officials may also is possible to file a “Terms of Service overview of key figures and the global use passive reconnaissance as part of (TOS) and Acceptable Use Policy outreach. We present all the gathered a criminal investigation. Ethical or (AUP) Violation” report email and material in form of an interim re- not, passive reconnaissance is always sent it to the hosting provider, asking port and on a website (5) visitors can done without the authorization of the the abuse team to double check the browse through the 1000 acquired person or organization that is being website in question and take it offline. companies alphabetically, sorted by targeted. (Glassman and Kang, 2012) country and by business segment. This leads to an effective combination 1.2. Data gathering of classical social engineering attacks Another video showed some of the on the target, which in turn can be To reach the sample of 1000 com- companies’ websites and our attempt used to harvest more information. panies the data gathering process of ‘physical reconnaissance’ where took several months. In this time the we visited the addresses where the Once a suspicious website is detected, AA419-database was visited on a daily companies claimed to have their forum members judge the look & feel basis and websites were automatically headquarters to see what is actu- of the website: Are photos squeezed downloaded using a site scraper tool. ally there. Following the situationist to fit in certain places? Are logos The scraped websites were analyzed ‘dérive’ approach (Ford, 2005) we vis- pixelated or badly manipulated to fit and categorized according to the busi- ited several headquarters in the cities into an image? Is the domain name ness segment, street address, used col- Accra, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ham- spelled correctly? Is the contact email ors, registered city, and country. Once burg, Helsinki, London, New York, the same as the domain name or is it a we reached our goal and gathered Paris or Vancouver. Once at the sup- free-to-use webmail service? 1000 companies we grouped our ini- posed business address we observed tial 20 business segments down to 10. the building and its surrounding and All these questions have to be checked Great deals of our holdings are clones searched for traces for the fraudulent and can expose a fraudulent business. of existing companies websites pub- online business. From each location,

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 78 we took photos and filmed the main e-waste dumps, criminals extract data even easier to steal all the information entrances in order to document any from hard-drives to demand payments they want for scams. (7) suspicious activities. In some places from their pre-owners or to resell the we asked a concierge or shop owners information. We were curious to sample probe if about the company, and if the previ- it is actually that easy to recover data ous owner could have been running In summer 2014 we visited one of from a discarded hard drive from the the website. A documentation of the the biggest electronic-waste dump Agbogbloshie e-waste dump so we walks became part of the ‘Passive re- in the world, Agbogbloshie in Ac- started talking with recyclers and also connaissance’ video and exact walking cra, Ghana. A local guide took us to asked if they sell the hard drives they directions for two London walks were the Agbogbloshie dumpsite where just dismantled from the computers. posted on the artist’s website. (6) we witnessed ongoing recycling pro- We were able to buy 22 hard drives cesses like the arriving of containers and bring them to Europe. Our main During the ‘credible fiction - decept- from the nearby Tema questions were if we ive realities’ workshop, we extended shipyard. People try to E-WASTE CRIMINALS could recover any data the video with a ‘virtual reconnais- reuse, repair or recycle TRY TO RECYCLE from the drives and if sance’ of companies addresses. In the functioning compon- PERSONAL DATA BY so, could the data be media competence workshop that ents, still due to a lack WADING THROUGH potentially used and was tailored to test the anti-fraud act- of technical equip- HARD DRIVES abused? ivist tools with diverse participants, ment the recycling AND EXTRACTING we mainly used Open-Street-Map, process is very basic The trilogy ‘Forensic Google maps, and local company re- but very toxic for the INFORMATION TO Fantasies’ reflects on gistrars to figure out which compan- workers and the en- BLACKMAIL THE PRE- these questions after ies are registered at certain addresses. vironment. Most elec- OWNERS recovering data from The collected screenshots were added tronics reached their six of the hard-drives. to the existing video, adding the out- end-of-life state and by dismantling Data that was possibly ones believed come of the workshop to the exhib- the devices, components like power to be deleted, trashed and forever ited installation. packs, batteries, CPUs, storage me- gone, has now resurfaced. We know diums, casings, motors and circuit that dealing with data is a rather luc- 2. Forensic fantasies #2 Identity theft boards are collected and sold in bulk. rative business today, yet data points Parts that cannot be used or sold in this are only valuable when connected to ‘Forensic Fantasies’ is a series of three separation process land on the ground others, revealing patterns of behavior artworks dealing with data breaches where youngsters handpick cables and and desires. Selling the content of a of private information. In the art- PCB parts or use loudspeaker magnets hard-drive to data brokers is worth works, we use data that was recovered for collecting tiny metal parts. This less than selling its spare parts to a from hard-drives that were illegally way the young scavengers still try to company in the data-recovery busi- dumped in West Africa. Despite in- extract precious metals like copper, ness. What can make a hard-drive ternational regulations, recyclers gain gold, silver or aluminum from the valuable, on the other hand, is sensit- higher profits by selling electronic scrap on the ground. ive personal data that can be abused, scrap through informal channels, than including access to online banking properly processing it at advanced Besides this physical separation of dis- or shopping accounts, private images facilities in their home countries. carded e-waste criminals try to recycle for blackmailing and harassment, or Through various trade routes, elec- personal data by wading through hard identity theft. The potential abus- tronic waste often ends up in develop- drives and extracting information to ing of data is the focal point of these ing countries where valuable metals blackmail the pre-owners: works, illustrating a number of ‘worst and materials are extracted in highly case scenarios’ based on the recovered toxic environments causing both […] With the mountains of hard drives data. On the other hand most of the health hazards and ecological dis- piling up as part of the dumping of recovered data, when lacking personal asters. Reports suggest, that at these e-waste in Ghana, scammers will find it meaning turns to gigabytes of junk, that has no value. A hard-drive with

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 79 video installation, three of the popular drama series are collaged together to show the scripted patterns of the very moralized stories.

3. Let’s talk business:

In many of today’s fraud schemes, phone numbers play an important role. Fake businesses or individuals can appear more legitimate, and the phone numbers enable a faster, more personal contact with the victims. When scammers set-up a fake email address at free webmail services like Megacorp. walk and passive reconnaissance Gmail or Outlook, popular VoIP services like Google talk or Skype are in- recoverable data poses an opportunity were also copied to this hard-drive to cluded and can be used for free. These to find something of value, neverthe- create and sustain some of the fraud- tools enable the scammers to hide less most often this turns out to be just ulent profiles. In this artwork 18 of their identities with fake names and another ‘forensic fantasy’. the fraudulent online profiles using bogus business websites. the same images found on the hard- #2: Identity theft drive are combined with Nollywood Typically these scams involve found footage clips that address the storytelling and some sort of social en- The second artwork of the “Forensic topic of romance scams and ‘sakawa’ gineering, where the fraudster creates Fantasies” series focuses on the phe- rituals. West African Nollywood a hyper-realistic ‘too good to be true’ nomena of romance scamming. These films, mainly Nigerian and Ghanaian situation for a mark, in order to extract scammers conduct identity theft by low-budget films, have their own way sensitive data and/or money from the copying bulks of images of attractive of dealing with the online scamming victim. (Maggi, 2010) (Mitnick, 2002) people to create fraudulent profiles phenomenon, which is a recognized Anti-scam activists host informative on social media platforms or dating problem in these countries. The films websites and forums where scams can channels. The scammers pose to be in portray young male adults who are be reported and suspicious business love with their victim and after gain- in need of quick money, most often proposals discussed. There are sev- ing their trust they lure them to give not driven by personal advantage but eral forums dedicated to either spe- gifts and money, always hiding behind to help some close relative out of a cific scam genres (e.g. romance scams their constructed identity. On one of miserable situation, often caused by or rental scams) or used technology the hard-drives, we found several im- an act of nature beyond control. They (e.g. email scams, phone scams). One ages of two attractive ladies. Through set up fake dating profiles and imper- of these platforms is ‘Scamcallfighters. a reverse image research, especially sonate young attractive women or com’, a non-profit organization that on romance scam warning forums, soldiers based in conflict regions to maintains a user-contributed data- we figured out that the woman’s pho- scam wealthy westerners. Unskilled base of phone numbers that are used tos are often abused in identity-theft and luckless they obey every given in scam attempts. This organization scenarios. Further, we found over 40 advice by more experienced fellow aims to help people who are under active social media profiles, that uses fraudsters. To increase their prospects threat of financial loss due to phone the images of these girls. Both wo- of success some fraudsters consult scams. On their website, they widely men have made a career as webcam priests for religious rituals and sacri- publish scam related phone numbers, girls and share a lot of personal pho- fices. This act is referred to as ‘sakawa’, details of scam incidents and inform tos and videos of themselves publicly a whole sub-genre of popular movies about ongoing cybercrime attacks. online. We suspect that the images and teledramas. (Riedel, 2015) In the

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 80 Confidence tricksters often attack victims who have already been scammed, duping them to pay even more money. The best defense against phone scams is knowledge about this type of scams and a publicly available blacklist of phone numbers that are used by In- ternet criminals.

The artwork is an outcome of an exploration with the aim of understanding in which scam narratives phone numbers are used and how the narratives are extended when the scammers are approached by calling them. With the analysis of a sample probe of 374 Talking with recyclers at Agbogbloshie e-waste dump emails, we wanted to see which business proposals are commonly used and to Merriam-Websters dictionary, the whether a potential victim would fall how believable their proposals sound naming of unwanted mass advertising for such an offer or not. On a nearby once we contacted them by phone. as ‘Spam’ originates from ‘the British wall, we installed two clocks that in- After categorizing the scam narratives television series Monty Python’s Fly- dicate the time difference between the we proceeded to call the scammers. ing Circus in which chanting of the ‘local’ time and the ‘Nigerian’ time. We Prior to calling scammers, we wanted word Spam overrides the other dia- also displayed the eight most common to know what means logue’. The sketch premiered in 1970, scam emails that we extracted from were necessary to stay but it took until the the sample probe of emails. We chose anonymous and safe WE WANT TO PROVIDE 1990s for mass emails, to call scammers from Nigeria since without leaving a trail AN OPPORTUNITY TO junk phone calls or their phone number were widely used that could lead to us. BE ANONYMOUSLY text messages sent out in the emails. Also when exhibiting by telemarketers to be the artwork we wanted to be able to When a connection CONNECTED WITH A called ‘Spam’. While reach scammers during their opera- to a scammer was es- NIGERIAN SCAMMER tablished, the scammer most of the scam tion hours. was informed that the emails tend to end up Conclusions: email was received, but not all relevant in the SPAM folder, we chose to me- parts fully understood, so the situation diate these stories through physical and the next steps should be explained SPAM-cans. Contact microphones By combining artistic practices and to us once again. Then the scammers and audio players are attached to four scambaiting strategies we consider had time to explain the situation and of the cans so that visitors can listen our artistic case studies as a type of how we should proceed further. to the scammers’ different narratives artivism, a genre where art and act- that were recorded. One device has ivism fuse. The presented artworks The multi-channel audio installation two buttons: one button connects the have been exhibited at festivals, in ‘Let’s talk business’ enables the visitor visitor to a randomly chosen Nigerian galleries, and at academic conferences. to listen to scammers who try to lure number from the scammer’s database, They also function as a basis for dis- potential victims into advance fee pay- the other button disconnects the call. cussion to raise awareness, as we have ments. Using SPAM-cans as listening We want to provide an opportunity presented them as case studies in a devices the visitor can listen to the to be anonymously connected with a series of workshops that we organize scam stories of ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ Nigerian scammer. This gives an ex- in various contexts. The research and business opportunities, distant relat- perience of being nervous about who exploration of various scam methods ives’ beneficiaries, big lottery fortunes will answer the phone, trying to un- have given us a wider view on how or helping people in need. According derstand the narrative, and judging constructed identities and storytelling

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 81 Megacorp. Installation setup are used in scam scenarios. Furthermore, we observed a References: wide-range of strategies that scambaiters apply for their causes. A reflective scambaiter with the right intentions Bansal, Akanksha, and Monika Arora. 2012. “Ethical Hacking and Social Se- curity.” Accessed April 30, 2017. http://www.rierc.org/social/paper84.pdf. can be seen as a disruptive anti-fraud activist, who jams the scammers workflow and alerts potential victims by Brenner, Susan. 2007. “Private-Public Sector Cooperation in Combating exposing the scam schemes. This can be done in discus- Cybercrime: In Search of a Model.” Accessed April 30, 2017. http://www. sion forums, by collecting databases of dubious emails and jiclt.com/index.php/jiclt/article/viewFile/20/19. websites as well as through artworks. Scams and fraud have been around for a long time, this dark side of the net will Brunton, Finn. 2017. “Spam - A Shadow History of the Internet” Accessed April 30, 2017. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/spam. not disappear. While actors are diverse and scam strategies continue to evolve we need to constantly review our ap- Cain, Patrick. 2004. “TheStar.com - Scam Trap.” July 12. Accessed April 30, proaches to scams, scammers, and scambaiting. 2017. http://www.419eater.com/media/toronto_star_120704.pdf.

LINDA KRONMAN, ANDREAS ZINGERLE Ford, Simon. The Situationist International: A user's guide. London: Black Dog, 2005.

Acknowledgements: Glassman, Michael, and Min Ju Kang. 2012. “Intelligence in the Internet Age: The Emergence and Evolution of Open Source Intelligence (OS- The exhibition of the ‘Megacorp.’ artwork and the first ‘credible fiction - INT).” Computers in Human Behavior 28 (2): 673–82. doi:10.1016/j. deceptive realities’ workshop were made possible by Reni Hofmüller and chb.2011.11.014. the ‘esc-medien kunst labor’ during the Steirischer Herbst 2015 festival in Graz (Austria). The ‘Forensic Fantasies’ trilogy was created as part of the Maggi, Federico. 2017. “Are the Con Artists Back? A Preliminary Analysis ‘Behind the smart world’ research lab, initiated by ‘KairUs Art+Research’ in of Modern Phone Frauds.” Accessed April 30, 2017. https://www.com- cooperation with the Linz based artist-run data center ‘servus.at’ with spe- puter.org/csdl/proceedings/cit/2010/4108/00/4108a824.pdf. cial thanks to the process coordinator Ushi Reiter. One of the research labs outcome was presented in form of an exhibition at the ‘Art meets radical Mann, Ian. 2008. Hacking the Human: Social Engineering Techniques and openness festival’ in Linz (Austria). Security Countermeasures. Gower Publishing, Ltd.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 82 Mitnick, Kevin, William Simon, and Steve Wozniak. 2017. “Wiley: The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security - Kevin D. Mitnick, William L. Simon, Steve Wozniak.” Accessed April 30, 2017. http:// as.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/pro- ductCd-0471237124.html.

Nooney, Laine, Laura Portwood-Stacer, and Lisa Nakamura. 2014. “‘I WILL DO EVERYthing That Am Asked’: Scambaiting, Digital Show- Space, and the Racial Violence of Social Me- dia.” Journal of Visual Culture 13 (3): 257–74. doi:10.1177/1470412914546845.

Renner, Karl Nikolaus, Dagmar Hoff, and Mat- thias Krings. 2013. Medien. Erzählen. Gesell- schaft.: Transmediales Erzählen im Zeitalter der Calling a scammer Medienkonvergenz. Walter de Gruyter. many steps of a fraud scheme and can be executed online and offline. Riedel, Felix. 2015. Sakawa-the spirit of cyber- fraud: Analysis of a rumour complex in ghana. 3 - The pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for Racism, Ethnicity and the Media in Africa: Me- securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further diating Conflict in the Twenty-First Century, physical abuse. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pillory, accessed April 27, 2017 page 261. 4 - APWG Phishing Activity Trends Report, https://docs.apwg.org/reports/apwg_trends_report_ Tuovinen, Lauri, and Juha Röning,. 2017. “Baits q4_2016.pdf, accessed April 21, 2017 and Beatings: Vigilante Justice in Virtual Com- munities.” Accessed April 30, 2017. http:// 5 - In the exhibition we present the whole offline archive of scraped websites, the online version just www.ee.oulu.fi/research/bisg/files/pdf/Tuov- features screenshots of the scraped websites, http://megacorp.kairus.org, accessed April 27, 2017. inen-CEPE2007.pdf. 6 - Passive reconnaissance: “Central London walk”: Megacorp. conglomerate, London, UK. http:// Zingerle, Andreas. 2014. “Remain Anonymous, kairus.org/passive-reconnaissance-walk-1-megacorp-conglomerate-london-uk/, accessed April 21, Create Characters and Backup Stories: Online 2017. Tools Used in Internet Crime Narratives.” In Interactive Storytelling, 81–90. Springer, Cham. 7 - Sydney Abugri: GHANA: Internet criminals cash in on e-waste dumping, http://preview.tinyurl. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-12337-0_8. com/khlluwz, accessed April 21, 2017.

Notes:

1 - 419-scam is a form of advance fee fraud that mainly uses telephone and email as a communication medium. The number ‘419’ refers to the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code dealing with fraud but is not limited to fraud schemes LINDA KRONMAN, ANDREAS ZINGERLE originating from Nigeria. ‘419-scam’ or ‘Four- one-niner’ became a common term for all ad- KAIRUS IS A COLLECTIVE OF TWO ARTISTS LINDA KRONMAN (FINLAND) AND ANDREAS vance fee fraud scams that are carried out over ZINGERLE (AUSTRIA). OUR WORK FOCUSES ON HUMAN-COMPUTER AND COMPUTER the Internet, no matter whether they originate MEDIATED INTERACTION. SINCE 2010 WE HAVE WORKED WITH THE THEMATIC OF IN- from Nigeria or from a different country. TERNET FRAUD AND ONLINE SCAMS, CONSTANTLY SHIFTING OUR FOCUS AND THERE- FORE APPROACHING THE THEME FROM A NUMBER OF PERSPECTIVES LIKE DATA SE- 2 - Social engineering is an act of psychologic- CURITY, ETHICS OF VIGILANTE COMMUNITIES, NARRATIVES OF SCAM E-MAILS, SCAM ally manipulating people’s decision-making & TECHNOLOGIES. BESIDES THE ARTWORKS, WE PUBLISH ACADEMIC RESEARCH PA- processes, so that they take actions that may not PERS RELATED TO OUR PROJECTS AND THROUGH WORKSHOPS AND RESEARCH LABS, in their best interest, e.g. releasing confidential WE CONTEXTUALIZE OUR RESEARCH TO WIDER DISCOURSES LIKE DATA PRIVACY, ACT- information. Social engineering is often one in IVISM, HACKING CULTURE, AND DISRUPTIVE ART PRACTICES.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 83 Stakhanov, artificial intelligence generates possible future stories of the citizens of Berlin, using BigData ALGORITHMIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY: A NEW LITERARY GENRE

by Salvatore Iaconesi, Oriana Persico

A Data-driven Homicide ers was not bad for a university professor used to a sedent- ary life. N.S. was sweating. The run uphill, at the end of the final part of his daily run, had the effect of burning many cal- His raving heartbeat was not the only thing that was troub- ories and of positively stimulating his cardio-respiratory ling him, today. activity, but it also seemed to cause his heart to explode. The digital wristband connected to his earphones started He seemed to have the impression of being followed. emitting a nervously rhythmic sound, to the beat of his crazed blood pump. It all started a few days ago: a systematic sensation of being the object of observation, confirmed by what he thought N.S. started thinking about the moment in which he would was certain evidence: that boy over there, picking up the have published his daily run on AttitudeBook: 12 kilomet- phone and turning around just it time to avoid being spot-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 84 ted; that other one, pretending to be- They are 5. Calm. Standing along the Approaching this complex matter ing there merely by chance, and, in- path, exactly where he would have will lead us to frightening and fun- stead, N.S. had seen him in 4 different slowed down for a second, to drink damental questions concerning our parts of the city already, at the exact a sip of water. Exactly where there is existence, consciousness, the ways in places where N.S. had planned going. no network signal coverage. Exactly which we perceive space and time, The guy would be waiting, checking where every day he stops to do some and how we understand, produce his phone, looking precisely towards exercises, while looking at the land- and transfer knowledge: Do “I” exist? the direction from where N.S. would scape from above, as documented in Does the external world exist? What be coming from. And he would im- many images he shared online. is the “subject”? What is the “object”? mediately divert the gaze as soon as he What is memory? Are my memories realized that he had been spotted. They are silent. They smile. N.S. “true”?… stops. he wipes the sweat from the Or the strange login reports on his back of his neck with his little towel. The list of questions is much longer Quantified Self accounts, from places They step forward and say “We know and the puzzle is unsolvable in one in his town, but from different com- everything about you, even things you single self-conclusive image. But with puters and devices. Or the glitches, in don’t know.” a few simple observations we can try his smart watch, wearables, social net- to inspect them by watching our beha- working accounts, emails, and even Who writes our autobiographies? viors, which is a good starting point: credit cards, in which systems started bringing up password recovery pro- What is an autobiography? The self is a membrane: it acts simultan- cedures, phone confirmation dialogs eously as the separation and meeting and more. N.S. changed all of his pass- Are we writing an autobiography by point between the subject and the out- words and codes, so he was convinced leaving our traces on social networks, side world, and as such it allows us to that there was really nothing to worry every day? What about the large establish relationships (between the I, about. But not today. quantities of other digital traces we the others, the world); leave behind in our lives? Uphill. Heartbeat. Breath in, out, in, The self changes but also remains the out. Almost made it. At the top of this What happens when non-human and same: for example, we can recognise next hill was the climax, the apex of algorithmic subjects/ ourselves in an old the run, and the point at which he entities come into play, childhood photo as would have been most tired and en- increasing the com- WE PROGRESSIVELY opposed to the adults ergetically drained, according to his plexity of our interac- EXPOSE OURSELVES we have become; wristband. So much that his doctor, tions and influencing MORE, EVERY DAY, two months ago, while N.S. was at the the process of construc- CONSCIOUSLY AND Despite the great same spot, sent him an instant mes- tion and perception of UNCONSCIOUSLY complexity that the sage: “Hey! Take it easy! The notific- the self? self raises as a philo- ation which just came in said that you sophical object, we were having a heart attack! I looked on We progressively expose ourselves constantly and spontaneously “speak” the map and I saw you were running... more, every day, consciously and un- about our self – everyday, since our but don’t push yourself too hard, take consciously, with consequences that childhood. it easy..” are difficult to grasp: about time, identity, memory, rights. Jerome Bruner (1997) argues that the Uphill. Sweat. Heartbeat. Breath in, self is a matter of language which we out, in, out. Then it’s all downhill, The Self is a puzzle that philosophy can develop naturally to articulate a alone, in the beautiful park. – and more recently psychology and first discourse on the self. But to give cognitive sciences – has always dealt shape to an autobiography (under And, then, when he completes the up- with. written or oral form) is a different hill curve, N.S. finds them. process: we need to put the self in a

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 85 larger context (which includes culture, All of these terms criticize the uni- binant nature, which nowadays inter- our beliefs, our relations and us). We versal, stable and autonomous idea of twines with (and lives through) new have to “tell a story” about ourselves, individual, and shift the focus to the ubiquitous, technologically mediated which means that we have a narrat- idea of the subject in process and in dimensions. ive problem to solve: not only create context. a story, but a story which makes sense A new space exists in which we are (to us and possibly to others). We are never alone when we write our confronted with unprecedented act- life story. Other people are always ors and materials: the software and This is why, according to Bruner, we with us, with their presence, influ- the algorithmic matter. Most of the can consider the self as a narrative ences, relations, interactions, shaping time their logic is opaque and unac- process, rather than an “object”, which not only our behaviors, but also what cessible to us, from the ways in which allows us to create coherent narratives we remember, what we feel as relev- algorithms watch and classify us; to about our lives along space, time and ant, important, worthwhile, changing the simple knowledge and perception cultures. the ways in which we express it, for of all the data we produce; to the al- whom, and the contracts we estab- gorithmic influence on our percep- The self is strictly connected to lish by expressing ourselves: what to tions which comes about as software memory processes and identity. show, what to hide, how to interpret agents become able to shape our me- it, how to shape it. dia environment around us, according Not surprisingly, autobiographical to logics which are beyond our grasp memories are recognized as an im- We don’t create our autobiography out and understandings. portant criterion of personal identity. of nothing. Rather, the story’s outline Over the past two decades, as S. Smith and plot are the result of numerous Finding new paths to access, interact and J. Whatson (2010) demonstrate impulses and micro/macro events and play with it, is a new challenge how three terms have become central (conscious or unconscious), relations, for contemporary human beings and in autobiography: power relations, one’s own memories societies which directly affects the and memories of others. possibility to build, own and fully performativity; understand the processes behind the positionality; Our autobiographies, construction of the self, our identities, relationality. just like the self, are a our intimate relation with time, our A NEW SPACE EXISTS process: the result of a personal and collective memories. In theories of perform- IN WHICH WE ARE constant remix. Rather ativity, identity is seen than in “originality” A new literary genre: the Al- CONFRONTED WITH as something “enacted authorship finds its gorithmic Autobiography and reiterated through UNPRECEDENTED basis in “composition”, cultural norms and ACTORS AND in the continuous pro- To explore these evolutive tensions discourses […] an ef- MATERIALS cess of “sewing the we created a new literary genre: the fect of storytelling”. pieces together” that Algorithmic Autobiography, under Positionality shifts the attention to the self operates in order to give shape the form of the GhostWriter project, the cultural and historical placement to the outline and plot of our lives, commissioned by the Goethe Institut of the subject, and “subject positions” turning them into narrative material for the Streaming Egos project, and are viewed as “effects of social re- with which we can mould identities. curated by Marco Mancuso and Fil- lations whose power is distributed More than “authors” we are “curat- ippo Lorenzin for Digicult. unevenly and asymmetrically across ors” of our own story, which turns out difference”. Relationality refers to the to be a fragmented object formed by On the one hand, we confronted with idea that “the narrator’s story is often a mixture of elements and materials, the emergence of new forms of writing refracted through the stories of oth- acted by multiple subjects. The only and of non-human authors, which are ers” and emphasizes the subject’s lack seemingly compact definition of auto- already influencing our relations and of autonomy. biography (“writing one self’s story”) the ways in which we can perceive/ shows us a polymorphic and recom- perform/build our self-narratives. On

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 86 Ghost Writer, the three augmented books the other hand, we tried to deal with If we can collect all of these bits, all For this, we started to explore what the opaque and hidden nature of these these episodes, all of these digital happens to the construction of our writings and authors, mainly the soft- traces in our ubiquitous diary, we can life stories when algorithms and smart ware agents, algorithms, artificial in- imagine to produce a novel form of software agents enter the scene, to- telligences which fill many aspects of autobiography. Currently, multiple gether with information and know- our ordinary experience, and the or- algorithms do exactly this, collecting ledge bubbles, interfering and remedi- ganizations which control them. all of these bits about ourselves, classi- ating our perception and possibility of fying them, organizing them by time, perception of the world. Whether we realize it or not, whether topic, emotion, behavior, patterns, we want it or not, a number of sub- types, focuses and more. Radicalized Constructivism jects and entities continuously keep track of the digital traces we produce, These algorithms are the Sexton (1997) divides the history of constructing multiple versions of “ghostwriters” of our autobiograph- knowing into three eras: premod- narrations of our lives, each with dif- ies. They already exist, as our ubi- ern, modern and postmodern. The ferent focuses, parameters, points of quitous diaries exist: they are just premodern era emphasizes dualism, view, perspectives. invisible to us. idealism and rationalism. The modern era focuses on empiricism, logical These are, to all effects, biographies. Through this project we wanted to positivism, scientific methodology. It Even more: they are two times make them visible. is here that the idea of professional auto-biographies. Auto, because they knowledge which is able to produce are automatically collected, processed We wanted to create a new liter- objective understandings of the world and composed. And auto, because ary genre allowing this new form of is born. we produce and express these bits of writings to emerge, with al possible memory ourselves in our daily lives, consequences: the Algorithmic Autobi- The creation, rather than discovery, of through our ordinary performances, ography. knowledge is the main feature of the like entries in a ubiquitous diary. current postmodern, or construct-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 87 ivist, era. Sexton also highlights the rather improving the organism’s equi- (Sampson, 1989), which become epistemological evolution: while in librium, i.e., its fit, relative to experi- “multiphrenic” (Gergen, 1991). modernism “truth” is discovered (and, enced constraints”. thus, exists objectively), postmodern- Being a “person” depends on how ity requires participation to construct In this perspective, reality is “needed” people are talked about, their social knowledge. only when our schemes fail and need practices and relationships (Burr, adaptation: first, recognition (and 1995). Constructivist reality does not allow self-representation) take place; second justifying reality through “objective is the action; third is the expectation In this sense, the role of language is circumstances “ (Neimeyer, 1995): all that the action produces the expec- critical: how people talk about them- constructed meanings reflect a point ted result. Perturbation of the schema selves and the world determines the of view. does not originate from conflict with nature of their experiences (Raskin, reality, but through internal and in- 2002). This makes the study of power In particular, George Kelly’s terpersonal transactions, which may relations (for example in a Focauldian (1955/1991a, 1955/1991b) personal or may not lead to more accurate rep- sense, see Rabinow, 1984) a funda- construct psychology (PCP) and per- resentations of reality (Raskin, 2002). mental issue in social constructionism, sonal construct theory (PCT) de- This is particularly interesting when as some of the ways in which language scribes how people organize their framed with today’s Filter Bubbles can be used to describe the world and experiences in bipolar dimensions of (Pariser, 2012), and the ways in which relationships start dominating over meaning (Raskin, 2002), or personal they computationally and continu- others. This also implies the study of constructs. ously enact information environ- the performative aspects of language, ments around us which are prone and the ways in which language and These are constructed, not discovered for confirmation biases to take place. power are the means to achieve spe- (Burr, Butt, & Epting, 1997; Epting & Here, when we are progressively in- cific, possibly authoritarian, objectives Amerikaner, 1980). They don’t exist duced to interacting and relating only and goals. as a given, but are constructed to pre- with subjects and theses which are dict how the world and its participants compatible (if not the same all to- Reality depends, here, on how groups might behave, and are continuously gether) with our own, what happens of people collectively elaborate ideas. re-fabricated, used, tested and mod- to these process of increased accurate Gergen (1991, 1994) pointed out the ified according to the results of the representation of reality? This kind of complications which emerge when tests, by evaluating how effective they process has only recently began to be communication technologies enter were in predicting life circumstances. explored, and could contribute to give the scene, enabling and causing indi- rise to the environments which are viduals to be exposed to high num- Von Glasersfeld (1984, 1995a, 1995b) florid in welcoming fake news, post- bers and qualities of social contexts. and Maturana (1988; Maturana & truths, intolerance, racisim, conspir- Gergen calls this condition saturated Varela, 1992; Varela, 1984) propose acy theories and more. multiphrenia. radical versions of constructivism. Proceeding outward, towards social These are the medium and environ- Von Glasersfeld, for example, stresses contructionism, we would find theses ments which function as the found- how human beings can fabricate un- according to which people are not ations onto which we build our per- derstandings to better navigate life no considered to have any stable and es- sonal stories, both the ones we use in matter how they match an external real- sential personality (Burr, 1995; Ger- our intimacy, to gain private under- ity. This notion derives directly from gen, 1991, 1994). standings about our life story, and the Darwinian evolutionary theories and ones we make public: our autobio- from Piaget’s cognitive development Social constructionists describe the graphies. theory, but sees human cognition as existence of a number of realities a closed system: “adaptation does not which is proportional to the number How does all of this change when al- mean adequation to an external world of cultures, contexts and forms of ex- gorithms enter the stage? of things existing-in-themselves, but pression, and the same goes for selves

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 88 Life stories, Self narratives, in the This would create a peculiar scen- termine their capability to reconstruct age of Algorithms and Bubbles ario: in trying to compose the self their self-narrative and life story. narrative, the deck of cards would be This would mean that constructing Self-narratives (Gergen & Gergen, shuffled, the card signs would not be an auto-biography would be, as intro- 1984) refer to the story constructed by the same, some cards would be miss- duced with GhostWriter, a complex individuals as they put self-relevant ing according to some inexplicable human/non-numan interaction. events in relation among themselves, logic, some cards would be 3 meters in coherent ways (Cohler, 1979; Kohli, wide, while others would only a few For example, in GhostWriter, the 1981). It is a tentative systematization micron across, or dug deep into a hay- content of the autobiography is proof these events (deWaele & Harrd, stack. duced by systematically capturing 1976): one’s current identity is not a the elements of the life story as they surprise, but the result of a story, that Our possibility to re- emerge from all of often contributes deeply to “provide construct would be THE ALGORITHMS those systems which meaning and direction to one’s life” biased on the account WOULD USE THEIR are used to monitor (Bettelheim, 1976). of the effects of mul- OWN COMPLEX and record the activ- tiple strategies which LOGICS TO TRY AND ities and actions of In the age of Hyperconnectivity, if would be financial, ac- INTERPRET WHAT the individual: email, one was called to produce an account cording to the revenue instant messaging, CONTENT WOULD BE of their life (especially if young indi- that different types of social networking, viduals), they would most certainly content may bring to MORE RELEVANT FOR credit cards, wearable use at least some degree of digital tools the service providers; THEIR USER devices, domotics, to explore their own memories and, technical, for example quantified selves and thus, to be able to place them into a due to the archival strategies of large more. meaningful, correlated series. systems; administrative, in multiple cases, such as for violations of terms of In GhostWriter all of these data, in- They would access images, content, service, or for system policies; service, formation and knowledge would be disseminated on platforms, devices, for example in the search for relev- assembled according to Conway’s services. Some of this content would ance, according to which systems try (200) Self-Memory System (SMS), be obsolete, or placed on platforms to interpret and provide the content providing yet another level of al- which do not exist anymore. Some which is more relevant to the user; gorithmic remediation, and, then, it other content would be unusable, be- location based, if users would find would be visualized and placed onto cause hardware or software contexts themselves in a location which is par- an interactive interface. have changed, because of different ticularly relevant for a series of con- standards, software versions. tent; interaction based, for example This setup, creates, again, a complex according to the specific content the system. Some other of this content would be user is producing at that moment in algorithmically processed. time; and many more. As seen in another work called Stakhanov and presented at the trans- This would be a really a complex re- On top of that, this would also not mediale festival in 2015 (Iaconesi, mediation, as the algorithms would only be a matter of the individual Persico, 2015), these remediations, in- use their own complex logics to try alone, but also be influenced by the re- terpretations, modelizations, predic- and interpret what content would be lations which they would be forming tions are executed according to the lo- more relevant for their user and more with other individuals and contexts. gics of the operators of these services, prone to generating revenue for the but they are not neutral. Through service provider, thus generating a se- All of these and other variables and their interpretation (the Imago in lection and curation of content which contextual conditions would expose Stakhanov’s cosmology), they affect would be representative of a complex, the individual to a complex geography reality, modifying it and creating loops only partially knowable and access- of content, which would largely de- which converge at reality’s represent- ible, reality.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 89 ation, no matter how far this is from 3. The Ordering of Events And, even if it was the former item: some other experienced version of it. would there be really any way to un- 4. Establishing Causal Linkages derstand it, or to differentiate it from In this sense it would be interesting the latter option? to understand how, in this novel lit- 5. Demarcation Signs erary genre, Gergen’s components for Conclusions construction of intelligible narrative Would all of these elements be chosen would be formed and composed: because they are effectively relevant After the Streaming Egos exhibit, for the individual, or to maximize which was featured in Dusseldorf on 1. The Establishment of a Valued End probabilities for maximum revenue January 16-17th 2016, we had in our Point for the service provider, according to hands a new, perturbing, object. the algorithms’ understanding of the 2. Selection of Events Relevant to the individual’s behavior? If we have demonstrated that non-hu- Goal State man forms of writing are already in place influencing our perception and the way in which we construct the self, what (social, anthropological, political, legal) consequences can the existence and wide accessibility of an “Algorithmic Autobiography” have on people’s lives?

We want to conclude this article trying to expand this question.

Recombinant, human/not human identities: a possibilistic vision of the “autobiographical pact”

When we relate to an “autobiography” we accept to relate to “someone” which is telling us a “non-fiction”, “truthful” story about “his/her” life: this is what scholar Phlippe Lejeune defines as the “autobiographical pact” Which, he argues, is the condition for an autobiography to exist and to be considered as “valid”.

It means that we recognize this “someone” (the “author”) as a subject with a defined identity, and with precise responsibilities to us (the readers). In a word: we establish a “contract” (with social and even possible legal consequences).

In the context of the Algorithmic Stakhanov, part of the cosmology of data Autobiography, unprecedented types

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 90 GhostWriter: architecture of self. View from the installation of subjects (authors) can come into Individual is at the very basis of soci- on multividuals? What do they look play. A couple, a class of students, a eties, in particular western societies: like? What are the consequences on group of friends, a collective of artists, our ID and all sort of contracts we are property, work, marriage and so on? a company, an institution and so on, allowed to stipulate are based on it. could decide to feed the GhostWriter, - What are the rights od a multividual? collecting and using their data sources: - What happens when, starting from the result would be an “autobiography” existence of a new literary genre and Things can get even more complic- attributable to and directly written by interacting with new types of cultural ated. the couple, the class, the group, the artifacts (books/publications in this collective, the company and the insti- case), we deal with new “multividual” We are now able to disseminate the tution itself, here respectively recog- authors? environment with sensors. nised as the “authors” and as single What kind of new social interaction defined identities. At the same time, we can imagine (or need) to validate We are building Smart Cities through one single person with multiple di- the autobiographical pact as described this possibility, as well as smart homes, gital identities could publish multiple by Lejeune? smart rural spaces, and smart schools, autobiographies (multiple, coexisting, workplaces, kitchens, hospitals, even contradictory versions of the - What are the consequences at psy- brothels and bodies. With the Inter- self) theoretically without violating chological, anthropological, political net of Things we are populating our the pact. and legal levels, on people and society? houses as well as our imaginaries with new connected objects and services. What we see here is a shift from a - What does a polymorphic, recom- We are effectively transforming all of concept of identity based on the com- binant, multividual based ID look like? these objects/processes/products/ser- pact vision of “individual” to a more How can we design and validate it? vices into potentially sentient agents, fluid, polymorphic and recombinant into potentially new types of subjects. structure: a “multividual”, as prof. - Following the same logic, can we This means that not only new types Massimo Canevacci Ribeiro calls it. imagine new type of “contract” based of human subject come into play, but

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 91 also non-humans ones: a apartment building, a square, a wood, a river, a fridge, our dog can now write their own autobiography and tell us their own life story, just like we do. The GhostWriter will not make any difference, because from its point of view there is really no difference: humans and not humans subjects are (or can easily become) data generators.

Unlike smart services, an autobiography is not something we just buy or consume: or better, the act of buy- ing and consuming an autobiography culturally implies a reciprocal relation GhostWriter, people reading the algorithmic autobiography between the authors and the reader. Otherness is added to the equation, in an actual algorithm. This lead us to the continuous present in which we po- potentially disruptive ways. controversial realm of robo-ethics: tentially access all our memories, all at the same time, constantly, and in - What are the consequences (psy- - Who is responsible (even legally) for which the algorithm selects them and chological, anthropological, political, our algorithmic autobiography? The passes them to us. legal) of a non-human or interspecies software who writes it, us or both? autobiography? A hint of this is represented by the - What tools do we have (or we can “Facebook memories”, which are peri- - Do non-human entities/subjects design) to discern responsibilities, at- odically brought to our attention by have rights? tributions, implications, boundaries the popular social network. They are and their progressive mutations? And: an everyday, consistent example of this - If yes, what kind of rights? do we want to design them? kind of process: what happens when I get my daily “Facebook Memory” - What are the relations and roles - Is a sort of “contract” needed between which sadly corresponds to a painful formed through this further form of us and the GhostWriter ? If yes, what remembrance which I really didn’t autobiography? After all, we would be does it look like? want to remember; so painful that I the ones designing the sensors, writ- commit suicide after seeing it? Who ing the algorithms, establishing what Questions of time: a continuous is responsible? Did Facebook kill me? is sensed and what is not, deciding present Could an algorithm be designed to kill what gets stored or is relevant, and me in this way? Do we need a contract more. What happens, from this point Our brain is not designed to store for this? Can I do legal action? And so of view, when a new “book” comes or remember everything. It is quite on. This type of issue and the model out: “The Autobiography of a net- the opposite: we carefully select the which it describes, brings up infinite work-connected lawn”? memories we need and we want; we critical questions. This is of course choose what to remember and what to problematic. On top of that there is software and forget, in complex ways; we craft our authorship. memory and we decide what is pub- - Are we able to bear this as human lic, private, intimate, what to show beings? An Algorithmic Autobiography is or not to show in an autobiography. written by all this different types of We need to forget and we have the - What are the risks of being exposed (multividual, human/not human) au- right to be forgotten (or do we?). Al- to our and others’ memories, con- thors as well as by the GhostWriter: gorithmic Autobiography describes a stantly?

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 92 Stakhanov, view from the installation at transmediale

- How does this affect our relation to time? To the percep- Commons is a research project which tries to confront the tion of our past and possible futures? current scenario by creating a technological, legal and cultural protocol/toolkit. The starting point of the research - What about the right to be forgotten, both from the legal is the creation of a p2p infrastructure in which people can and existential point of view? describe identities and relations among identities, creating high quality relational environments in which to express How does a society get ready for this type of change? (since how data is used, to be able to technologically, legally and we don’t really seem ready yet) collaboratively enforce these expressions, by using the protocol/toolkit. Privacy, data ownership and possible balance: Ubiquit- ous Commons and Algorithmic Autobiography There are a number of projects trying to confront with these issues, each in its own ways and with its own philo- We have described GhostWriter as a “total invasion of pri- sophies, but we will refer here to the Ubiquitous Com- vacy”. This is mostly because until now our relation to the mons, because we’re familiar with it, and because we be- data we produce is mediated by operators and platforms lieve in its approach: which own our data, because the algorithms are opaque to us, and because we don’t know what data is harvested from - Is it possible to apply Ubiquitous Commons in the context us, how it is processed and how it is used. On top of that of the Algorithmic Autobiography? we don’t really have any possibility to express and enforce how we’d wish this data to be captured, processed and used. - With what results? Using the metaphor of the “ubiquitous diary”: not only at the moment it is invisible to us; we don’t really own it This are all questions we want to explore in the near future. and we largely don’t know we are writing it, who will be can be detected in the activity of the artist who is pressured able to read it and for what purpose. In our practice, we to propose new practices. confront with these kind of issues through the Ubiquitous Commons (Iaconesi, Persico, 2014) project. Ubiquitous SALVATORE IACONESI, ORIANA PERSICO

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Cohler, B. J. 1979. Personal narrative and life- Glasersfeld, E. von. 1995a. Radical constructiv- Pariser, E. (2012) The Filter Bubble: How the course. Unpublished manuscript, University of ism: A way of knowing and learning. London: New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Chicago. The Falmer Press. http://cepa.info/1462 Read and How We Think. New York: Penguin Books. Conway, Pleydell-Pearce, 2000. The Construc- Iaconesi, S., Persico, O. 2014. Ubiquitous Com- tion of Autobiographical Memories in the mons. Accessed April 28 2017: http://www.ubi- Rabinow, P. 1984. The Foucault reader. New Self-Memory System, in Psychology Review, quitouscommons.org/ York: Pantheon. 107(2):261–88. Iaconesi, S., Persico, O. 2015. Stakhanov. Ac- Raskin, J. D. 2002. Constructivism in psycho- de Waele, J. P. and Had , R. 1976. The personal- cessed April 28 2017: http://www.artisopen- logy: Personal construct psychology, radical ity of individuals. In R. H a d (Ed.), Personality. source.net/2015/02/07/stakhanov-a-bigdata- constructivism, and social constructionism. In: Oxford: Blackwell. god-predicts-human-futures/ Raskin J. D. & Bridges S. K. (eds.) Studies in meaning: Exploring constructivist psychology. Efran, J. S. and Fauber, R. L. 1995. Radical con- Kelly, G. A. 1991a. The psychology of personal Pace University Press, New York: 1–25. Avail- structivism: Questions and answers. In: R. A. constructs: Vol. 1. A theory of personality. Lon- able at http://cepa.info/3744 Neimeyer & J. Mahoney (eds.) Constructivism in don: Routledge. (Original work published 1955) psychotherapy (pp. 275–304) Washington DC: Sampson, E. E. 1989. The deconstruction of the American Psychological Association. Kelly, G. A. 1991b. The psychology of personal self. In: J. Shotter & K. J. Gergen (eds.) Texts of constructs: Vol. 2. Clinical diagnosis and psy- identity (pp. 1–19) London: Sage. Efran, J. S., Lukens, M. D. and Lukens R. J. 1990. chotherapy. London: Routledge. (Original work Language, structure, and change: Frameworks of published 1955) Sexton, T. L. 1997. Constructivist thinking meaning in psychotherapy. New York: Norton. within the history of ideas: The challenge of a Epting F. R. and Amerikaner M. 1980. Optimal Kenny, V. and Gardner, G. 1988. Constructions new paradigm. In: T. L. Sexton & B. L. Griffin functioning: A personal construct approach. In: of self-organizing systems. The Irish Journal of (eds.) Constructivist thinking in counseling A. W. Landfield & L. M. Leitner (eds.) Personal Psychology 9: 1–24. practice, research, and training (pp. 3–18) New construct psychology: Psychotherapy and per- York: Teachers College Press. sonality (pp. 55–73) New York: Wiley-Inter- Kohli, M. 1981. Biogaphy: Account, text and science. method. In D. Bertaux (Ed.), Biography and so- Smith, S. and Watson, J. 2010 Reading Autobio- cieiy. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. graphy. A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives. Gergen, K. J. 1989. Warranting voice and the University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis and elaboration of the self. In: J. Shotter & K. J. Ger- Konrad, A. W. 2012. The Influence of Autobio- London. gen (eds.) Texts of identity (pp. 70–81) London: graphical Memory on Behavior, and Technolo- Sage. gies that Support Both. Accessed April 28 2017: http://www.artiekonrad.com/wp-content/up- Gergen, K. J. 1991. The saturated self: Dilemmas loads/2012/12/Artie-Konrad-Qualifying-Paper. of identity in contemporary life. New York: Basic pdf Books.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 94 Stakhanov, view from the installation at transmediale

SALVATORE IACONESI, ORIANA PERSICO

SALVATORE IACONESI IS AN INTERACTION DESIGNER, ROBOTICS ENGINEER, ARTIST, HACKER. TED FELLOW 2012, EISENHOWER FEL- LOW SINCE 2013 AND YALE WORLD FELLOW 2014. HE TEACHES NEAR FUTURE DESIGN AND MULTI PLATFORM DIGITAL DESIGN AT ISIA DESIGN FLORENCE AND, IN THE PAST, AT “LA SAPIENZA” UNIVERSITY OF ROME, AT THE ROME UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS AND AT THE IED DESIGN INSTITUTE. SALVATORE HAS FOUNDED AOS IN 2004, IS PRESIDENT AT HER (PREVIOUSLY HE), AND CO-FOUNDER AT NE- FULA. HIS FOCUS IS AT THE INTERSECTION OF ARTS, DESIGN, TECHNOLOGIES, SCIENCES AND BUSINESS. HE CREATES PROJECTS THAT ARE AT THE SAME TIME ARTWORKS, SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND BUSINESS MODELS, ADDRESSING FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES IN CULTURE, INCLUSION, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMY AND ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION.

ORIANA PERSICO HOLDS A DEGREE IN COMMUNICATION SCIENCES, IS AN EXPERT IN PARTICIPATORY POLICIES AND DIGITAL INCLU- SION. SHE IS AN ARTIST AND WRITER. SHE HAS WORKED TOGETHER WITH NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS AND THE EUROPEAN UNION TO THE CREATION OF BEST PRACTICES, STANDARDS AND RESEARCHES IN THE AREAS OF DIGITAL RIGHTS, SOCIAL AND TECHNOLO- GICAL INNOVATION, DIGITAL BUSINESS ECOSYSTEMS (DBE), PRACTICES FOR PARTICIPATION AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING. ORIANA WRITES CRITICAL, SCIENTIFIC, PHILOSOPHICAL AND POETICAL TEXTS THAT CONNECTS TO TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, AND ON ITS CULTURAL, SOCIOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL IMPACTS. SHE IS AN EXPERT ON THE FORMAL ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL AND SOCIAL TRENDS, WITH SPECIFIC FOCUS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS. SHE CREATES BREAKTHROUGH COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS, PERFORMANCES, RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES AND STRATEGIES.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 95 The TRUMPological Phantom, Washington Post XTREME TRUMPOLOGY by Randall Packer

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 96 The TRUMP Show August 8, 2015 @ 9:30 am Life in America • Performance is Reality • The Post Reality

If there were any doubt that American politics has become a SHOW, we have reached the cathartic denouement and well beyond. Donald Trump has single handedly whipped the Repub- lican campaign into his very own reality tv show, with all the mock self-reflection, confessionals, and personal lambasting we associate with, say, The Housewives of New Jersey, just to name an example. The Fantastically Oversized Id, New York Times

Donald TRUMP is a SHOWMAN, this merciless approach to governing It’s Super Tuesday in America and we and anyone who takes his bluster ser- has become the American way and find ourselves receding into a dark iously doesn’t understand that this is Trump just speaks the truth? night. Nothing is Real. All around pure entertainment for the “ignor- us the clowns and jesters and zealots ant masses,” the same audience that Donald Trump is carefully laying the of American politics annihilate the thrives on reality television. The groundwork for the post reality. He is code of reason of truth & sensibil- problem is that when the ignorant masterfully injecting the artificiality ity. The loudest, nastiest, crudest rise up and give voice to their claim on of television entertainment into the voices prevail. Nothing is Real. The power, Donald Trump will become bright lights of American politics. Of ever-present transmission signal of our next President. When the reality course, he is not the first to do this, the media only serves to amplify the tv audience reaches critical mass and his predecessors include Pat Paulsen politic voices into a cacophony of elects their own leader we will once (for those who remember), Ronald the absurd: a noise that sucks out the and for all enter into the era of the Reagan, Ross Perot, Stephen Colbert, air and drowns everything else un- post reality: a world of total SHOW, and even Bill Clinton. But Trump has til a deafening silence, an exploding 24/7, non-stop: no longer any dif- repackaged his ferocious business acu- Nothingness, a vast wasteland, fills ferentiation between the real and the men laced with reality television flair the void. Downward goes the spiral imaginary. to raise the stakes on politics as all of confusion until we find ourselves SHOW. For now, all I can say is en- swirling in the dizzy overabundance The low slung nasty insults are all part joy the SHOW, for it may be the end of disinformation, all of which cancels of the SHOW. Whatever pretense or of politics as we know it, and the be- itself out to ø. Out of the darkness, even suspension of disbelief the Amer- ginning of a four-year series of made- leading the procession, the strangely ican president is required to convey to for-tv episodes brought to you by horrifying, TRUMPological phantom project himself as a sober leader with TRUMP, Inc. encircles and strangles our collective great reserve and a gentle but firm consciousness, leading us swiftly and Nothing is Real hand on the reigns of power, is simply, directly to the Gates of Hell. With the March 1, 2016 @ 1:25 pm not in the TRUMP script. The Donald electoral onslaught of Super Tuesday Flow of Information • Fundament- is a fearless woman hating racist (like in America, a super-saturated din of alism • Hell • Life in America • The many in the GOP base), who can bully candidates and pundits argue them- In-between • The Mysterious & Un- his way through a political campaign selves into an eternal blast of heat and known • The Post Reality • Trans- to become a true Presidential mogul noise, which underscores the fantast- mission • Underworld cutting sleazy deals with Big Business ically grotesque nature of our journey and annihilating enemies. Perhaps, into this political underworld.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 97 Donald TRUMP is a SHOWMAN, photo by Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Nothing is Real. Out of the churning torrent of chattering Living in a Make Believe World – an endless feedback loop of polarization – the voices of March 26, 2016 @ 1:08 am the wailing masses rise up in a great, resounding clamor to Elements of Seduction • I am the Movie • Intoxicating cast their vote for the Celebrity Joker: sealing the Deal with Embrace • Life in America • Performance is Reality • the Devil. Situational Comedy • The Post Reality

From across the depths of this Dantesque drama, I also see [Television] finally blurred the line between truth, reality, Alice (from another Wonderland) descending into a mad and mythology, mixed it all up so we got confused and we world where in her fall, she transgresses mysteriously and can’t figure out what’s real anymore… It might just be that unknowingly through to the Other Side, where: the Mad ultimately television is so powerful, so influential, and so Hatter Himself is hosting the Tea Party… yes, Nothing is addictive, that we can never find the truth. – Barry Levin- Real. We find ourselves descending into worlds of col- son, Poliwood lective social hallucination, narrated by the media chatter resonating through the cavity of our aggregated minds, Like the great filmmaker Barry Levinson, as a kid I too grew stretched silly in our futile effort to absorb and compute the up with a television set in my house beaming in the daily message. Our concentration soon breaks down when con- dosage of sitcoms and fantasy suburban portraits of Amer- fronted with the ø-sum meaninglessness of it all: it’s simply ica. And like Levinson, I am in full agreement: television is impossible to compute. Nothing is Real. Deeper and still a powerful entertainment medium, “yet at the same time it deeper into the super-darkness we go, drifting through a may be the most disastrous invention that ever happened timeless, drifting broadcast where the machinations of the in the history of mankind,” as Levinson points out. politic clarion resound more and more hollow, a profound and disturbing hollowness, until our heads become lighter, For the past several years, I have been writing about the de- floating like air, until Nothing, absolutely Nothing, makes mise of truth in the post real, post television age, in which any sense at all. Nothing is Real. Each of us together in the the Net has evolved into a “total medium” – ubiquitous, in- Nothing, a stillness that is chilling, a Nothing that is in stantaneous, interactive, super-participatory, and all-con- between Nowhere. suming – far beyond the possibilities of television. The Net

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 98 TRUMP Descending an Escalator, ABC News has only deepened the muddy waters of our televised grip tense of the real. Performed in the ultimate reality theater on reality, according to Levinsion, “to such a degree that of the TRUMP Tower (where “The Appreciate” was we are lost and will never find the truth.” filmed), the gliding portrait of Donald and Melanie posing for the descent was a mastery of heightened telegenic Levinson’s documentary Poliwood exposes the extent to staging that transcends anything we have ever seen in the which the 2008 political operatives and their candidates history of politics and television. What the TRUMP fol- in both political parties manipulated public perception lowers have lost in their immersion in the 24/7 daily diet through techniques of made-for-television theatrics, par- of the TRUMP Show, is the ability to grasp the real and ticularly Obama’s Greek, columned stage set for his stadium separate the flow of theatrical hyperbole from the reality acceptance speech in Denver at the Democratic National of running the government. What we have witnessed, Convention. However, 2008 pales in comparison to what shockingly, is the birth of a new reality television show, we are seeing today in 2016. Donald TRUMP didn’t need “Make America Great Again,” that the public will continue a makeover, he was already a media fabrication to begin to binge watch through the summer conventions and into with, a tabloid character and star of his own reality televi- the general election. And just possibly, much to our horror, sion show. His epic descent down the escalator of TRUMP the next installment of episodes of the TRUMP Show will Tower in Manhattan set the stage for what was to come: an be televised and tweeted directly from the Oval Office at unceasing torrent of image-making and blatant propaganda the White House. I am not talking about another season magnified through the totalized medium of television and of “The West Wing,” which we all acknowledge was fic- the Net. TRUMP is America’s first social media super-par- tional entertainment, rather, this is a new reality television ticipant candidate personally distributing and redirecting show produced by TRUMP himself (let’s call it “Celebrity disinformation to millions of followers via Twitter. President”), which will give the appearance of being all too real as President TRUMP wields the levers of power. Barry The transition from from TRUMP’s hit reality tv show, Levinson perfectly articulated in 2008 what we now face in “The Apprentice,” to the first serial episode of his pres- 2016, “This is the accepted reality that we live in today… idential campaign, “TRUMP Descending an Escalator,” all this is make-believe… and we live in this make-believe was seamless, dramatic, seductive, and devoid of any pre- world.”

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 99 How to Embrace XTreme TRUM- Pology September 3, 2016 @ 2:31 pm Alchemical Transformation • Ef- fects of Media • Elements of Seduc- tion • Intoxicating Embrace • Per- formance is Reality

Imagine the World of TRUMP, where reality has been cast aside, where ALL THE WORLD is a stage, where Amer- ica is the stage set for a reality tv show, where the White House glitters gold. Let’s envision this World of TRUMP, where XTreme TRUMPology reigns TRUMP Descending an Escalator, ABC News supreme, let’s see just exactly what it takes to embrace XTreme TRUMPo- Pology as it emanates from TRUMP tire being: a superbly powerful reality logy. himself is Noise entering into the Sys- cocktail consisting of the perfect mix tem. It is your job, as a receptacle of of celebrity culture, post-apocalyptic First, you need to accept the surreal- the message of TRUMP, to be a Host disaster, and made-for-tv drama. ity of XTreme TRUMPology and its for the Noise, a willing carrier of the Once TRUMPology is circulating 24/7 suspension of disbelief impervi- transmission, so that TRUMPology freely through your bloodstream, ous to all standard systems of logic and in its purest form can burrow it’s way you can Believe, Truly Believe, in its reason. But, in order to fully embrace into your consciousness and explode powers of seduction and desire that al- XTreme TRUMPology you must be- in your senses. chemically transform your mind into come it, embody it, amplify it. You a single Collective Mind of cathartic must get INSIDE of its extreme nature You must enter deeply into the Rage against the System. and release it from within. FLOW of TRUMP to be a surrogate for XTreme TRUMPology, you must The FULL ON Grip of the Media Torrent So then XTreme TRUMPology is fully immerse yourself in the FLOW November 3, 2016 @ 10:23 am nothing less than the act of BECOM- in all its immense deception and en- Effects of Media • Elements of Se- ING TRUMP in the most extravag- tertainment. You must open up the duction • Flow of Information • Me- ant way, to be pure TRUMP, to be Media Tap, wide open for ingestion, dia Ingestion • Media Transforma- HYPER-TRUMP, in order to fully swimming along the stream of disin- tion • Situational Comedy • Torrent embody TRUMPology in its most ex- formation to absorb its meaning and treme form. ignore the danger of any confusion to your perception of reality. It is ne- Here in the underground studio When TRUMP takes to the airwaves cessary to consume a healthy dose of bunker, I am busy as always, actively to perform his personification of a TRUMPology in order to fully exper- monitoring and transforming the politician, you must become an open ience its erratic message, its abrupt incessant flow of the media torrent. and willing vessel ready to receive and jolt to the nervous system, the sur- This has been my purpose, my raison ingest his message, no matter how prising juxtaposition of ALL THINGS d’étre, for the past six years (more like unthinkable and unattainable. You SIMULTANEOUSLY, to embrace 30 if you count everything). But never must learn to ride the TRUMP wave XTreme TRUMPology as your new before this moment, with the over- as he speaks deftly in a multitude of (post) reality. abundance of XTreme TRUMPology tongues, rapidly shifting, meandering saturating our mediated reality, have in all directions, saying everything and Now you are ready for XTreme I seen or experienced the FULL ON nothing. The transmission of TRUM- TRUMPology to grab hold of your en- grip of the media torrent. Unless you

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 100 Full On Grip of the Media Torrent, Randall Packer have decided to seal yourself in an anechoic chamber, or the torrent, systems ON, analyzing the contents, tracking maybe you have your own underground bunker impenet- the energy, recording the hyperacusic noise, to present to rable to the FLOW, you are witnessing a media assault like you a cooked slice of our media diet. none other, which most assuredly is wreaking permanent damage on the American psyche. Open up wide.

This, my friends, is what TRUMP had in mind all along. Truth is Stranger Than Fiction Not just to blow up the government, but to blow up our November 12, 2016 @ 12:03 pm minds. It’s difficult to say whether there was any kind of Effects of Media • Elements of Seduction • I am the strategic planning behind his stranglehold on the media. Movie • Intoxicating Embrace • Performance is Reality But in essence, like holding a mirror to the sun, he has re- • The Post Reality directed the media’s hot bright lights as a massive assault on the body politic, starved for drama and entertainment. President TRUMP. Get used to it, there is no turning back. Instinctively, with a kind of ferocious, primal desire to un- The reality of TRUMP as president of the United States leash the forces of the media torrent, he has released the has shocked the country, and the world, because no matter valve that heretofore has never been opened quite this how hard we tried, we could never have imagined it. So wide. We the People are now so tightly wound up in the yes, truth is stranger than fiction, and the fact is, we must episodic unfolding of this situational tragi-comedy, that we now prepare for a TRUMP presidency. find ourselves seductively glued to a political reality show that is simply impossible not to watch: the polls, pundits, How did this horrific reality come to be? It’s simple: the surrogates, ads, speeches, anger, and the bias of thrashing, unscripted post-truth power of reality television. The en- clashing, spasmodic ideology. The nation is exhausted and actment of the so-called “real life,” is, in our present day spent with five days yet to go to the election. reality, entertainment culture, more compelling, richer in dramatic conflict, yes stranger, than anything we might During the final stretch of this epic horror show of a polit- imagine. In the staging of an unscripted situation, the dy- ical campaign, I am, as an artist of the post reality, ingesting namic forces of human behavior unencumbered by pre-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 101 sponse, refining the lines, and stirring heated anger with promises of revolution and anti-global, Brexit-infused, nationalist superiority. By reducing the audience emotionally to the most crass, disgusting, and vile impulses of hate, TRUMP pulled on the same unscripted strings that are at the heart and soul of reality television.

But in the end, this form of “authenticity” was nothing more than entertainment, or let us say “simulated authenticity,” which is nothing but a lie, because there is not a word of sincer- Truth is Stranger than Fiction, photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters ity in any of it. While spontaneous, it is also calculated, just like highly-pro- scribed lines and pre-determined actions are calculated to engage in ways that duced reality television such as “The are far more compelling than fictional scenarios. For the vast audiences starved Apprentice.” Donald TRUMP as a for the thrill of reality-based entertainment, TRUMP is their man. political candidate constructed himself as an avatar for the individual Last year, when I began writing about TRUMP, I could see that he was bring- cravings of people seeking an outlet ing the reality format to the political campaign, and that his techniques of per- for their anger, frustrations, and isola- formance would easily win over the very same audiences who followed “The tion. TRUMP gave it to them through Apprentice.” His followers saw “Make America Great Again” as the sequel, with a loud appeal to the bizarre combina- the star of the show seamlessly segueing from the Board Room to the Political tion of change and celebrity. In doing Stage. TRUMP masterfully used the reality format to excite and transform his so, he triggered the darkest emotions television audience into a voting electorate. He used the very same methodology of hatred, racism, sexism, and intoler- of branding, determining exactly what people wanted to see, want they wanted ance. His call for political revolution, to hear, targeting their anger, frustrations, and prejudices. TRUMP wielded un- unlike Bernie Sanders, triggered a scripted reality tv hot buttons that were inflammatory and controversial to stir dangerous mob-mentality deepening up the basest emotions, such as: “I Will Build a Great Wall,” “They’re Rapists,” the divide that now threatens the very “I Like People Who Weren’t Captured,” “There was Blood Coming Out of her core of American values and demo- Whatever,” “Obama was the Founder of ISIS,” “My Whole Life is About Win- cracy with his ascent to the presid- ning,” “Our Politicians Are Stupid,” “I Know More about ISIS than the Gener- ency. als,” etc, etc. This torrent of insults and boasting was precisely intended to seize the imagination of the forgotten man. No one could have predicted the epic nature of “Make America Great A political strategist would never dare script any of this for a political candidate. Again.” But in our culture of celebrity, But on the TRUMP campaign trail of cheap thrills, his improvisation was mas- with the blurring of reality and en- terfully crafted in the moment based on a deep understanding of the entertain- tertainment, perhaps we can now say ment value of outrageous statements. The effect was mesmerizing, engaging, that truth has died, we have entered seductive, and highly manipulative for the base of angry, white working class the era of post-truth, the spectrum voters who totally ate it up, as well as the media that captured his every move. between the real and the imaginary has dissolved. There is no longer Yes, truth is stranger than fiction, particularly when politicians go uncontrol- truth when it has been consumed by lably rogue, fully in the moment. You could see this at the rallies, especially the fabrication, lies, fake news, and ma- early ones, when TRUMP would perform his speeches as a nightclub act, a sort nipulation. TRUMP has ushered in of George Carlin of the alt-right, making it up on the spot, gauging the re- a world we can no longer believe in,

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 102 Through the Lens, photo by Damon Winter/New York Times a post-truth world that is a whole lot made-for-television production for of “Make America Great Again,” who stranger than fiction. our viewing pleasure, the leakage of now joyously shout to the heavens the suspension of disbelief emanat- that a golden star has descended upon The Death of Reality ing from the screen and out into the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to save the November 25, 2016 @ 7:53 pm world, the Spectacle grabs hold of us world, yes, beyond the shadow of a Effects of Media • Elements of Se- and consumes our consciousness in doubt, reality in America has expired duction • Flow of Information • In- the seductive and menacing glory of once and for all. toxicating Embrace • Life in Amer- the television transmission. ica • Performance is Reality • The And as TRUMP has ushered in the Post Reality • Transmission When you no longer differenti- death blow to reality, we now enter, ate between serial episodes of real- unequivocally, the post reality. Just We now see clearly through the lens ity television and the hyperdrama of in case you haven’t heard, in the post of the television camera: the public ex- a government-in-transition, when reality there is no longer separation ecution of reality. When the camera’s politicians glide in and out of gilded between that which is real and that frame becomes a window revealing elevators to make their way up, up, up which is not. In the post reality, the the sharp distortion of our perception, to the Master of the Universe in the real and the imaginary, fact and fic- when the world around us transforms great TRUMP Tower fortress, then tion, truth and lies, the hot lights of before us fabricated in the dark fantasy you have realized nothing less than the camera and the sun that shines of pervasive propaganda and disin- the death of reality. down from the sky, all blur uncere- formation, we are witness to the sud- moniously into a sinister anti-reality, den death of reality. Yes, the unima- And when “the deplorables,” formerly a terrifying, empty void that resides at ginable can happen, it is happening, it known as “the people,” those who the center of the lens where nothing, is unfolding right in front of our eyes herald from the great expanse of absolutely nothing is real. as the absolute mediation of everyday Middle America have once and for life. A SHOW. When politics become all succumbed to the manipulative, To give credit where credit is due, we pop-culture-driven-entertainment, a stage-crafted, media-driven Spectacle must lay blame not just on TRUMP,

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 103 but on The Media as the Great Ena- bler for the erosion of truth that has shattered the foundation of our fragile democracy. By capturing TRUMP in the omnipresent eye of the lens, situ- ating Him at the core of everyone’s attention, they empowered him, en- riched and enlarged him, provided a platform for TRUMP to burrow his way into the nation’s consciousness, inside our collective brain, seducing enough poor hypnotized working class souls to amass the electoral votes to become the 45th President of the United States. Yes, dear Media, we point the finger at YOU. TRUMP Tower, Photo by Randall Packer

We look back at the sordid history ing an unceasing torrent of incoming version of its original; until the whole of demagoguery to realize that all it and outgoing signals instantaneously jumble returns to the Tower and is takes is for a single, charismatic, tele- and simultaneously, with lethal effect. commented on by the Presidential genic politician aka reality tv star/ This is the fulcrum, ground-zero, and Transition Team; only to be recircu- billionaire cum celebrity tabloid fig- the mis-en-scene for the 24/7 chatter lated back out to social media and the ure to grab hold the reigns of The of deafening noise that is circulating cable news broadcasts, and on and on Media Machine through its lust for the globe faster and faster and faster, and on ad infinitum in one infinitely ratings, and focus the spotlight with reaching such a terrifying speed that it echoing feedback trail of exploding all its might on Himself as the Savior threatens a world neurological melt- disinformation and loss of the real: of The People. You then have noth- down. TRUMP has control of all the The Exploding Perpetual Motion Me- ing less than a coup d’état-by-hyper- channels, like a spoiled child who has dia Machine. bole, in which the moral foundation grabbed the remote, aiming it sporad- of political leadership is thrown out ically, impulsively, and dangerously The world will not end because of the window, the anachronistic rules in every direction at everyone and no nuclear holocaust, nor an asteroid col- of engagement replaced by a blinding one. lision with earth, nor even the implo- diversion from the issues to stoke the sion of the earth’s climate, no, we are flames of social turmoil. Hence, the From his über throne high up in the all going to sizzle and drown in the hot stripping away of all reason, the cor- Tower, TRUMP effortlessly and circulation of our media. The great rosion of logic, until nothing remains mindlessly taps a few keys on his accomplishments of modern inform- of The People’s grip on reality but a phone, sends a random missive out ation science over the past half-cen- raw, feverish devotion. on Twitter to his 17.3 million fol- tury, ushered in by a storied lineage of lowers; which is then retweeted, visionary scientists, those great men The Exploding Perpetual Motion liked and tagged tens of thousands who saw human culture realizing its Media Machine of times; commented live on all the most far-flung ambitions in the aug- December 15, 2016 @ 12:05 pm cable news channels; tweeted again mentation of human intellect through Effects of Media • Elements of Se- and fed back into the news transmis- a collaborative system of information duction • Flow of Information • sion; then written up in dozens of sharing – can no longer save us from Speed of Life news articles, blogs, and online opin- the lunacy of our own demise. ion pages; hacked and recirculated TRUMP Tower extends high in the on Facebook by the fake news world; With a celebrity demagogue at the Manhattan skyline, a radioactive then retweeted and reposted again as Control Tower of the world’s media transmitter broadcasting and redirect- an appropriated, regenerated, twisted flow, the best laid plans of our global

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 104 Make Everything Great Again, photo by Petras Malukas/AFP/Getty Images information culture has been hijacked. forceful, so punishing to democracy. implosion of disinformation, propag- TRUMP is now commander-in-chief The problem is that we are all compli- ated by a candidate with absolutely of super-participatory media assault cit, all of us, riveted to the broadcast, no regard for facts, a candidate who weaponry designed to blast over- seduced by the transmission, hypnot- scripted his “Make America Great whelming torrents of propaganda ized by the Spectacle: all of us, willing Again” pseudo-campaign as a new at the speed of light. Even his rallies participants in the TRUMP Show. chapter in an unfolding reality serial were a calculated performance of drama. TRUMP’s rise to power was outrageous perfection intended to do The only cure is to STOP WATCH- ALL SHOW, a total performance, a nothing more than keep the live red ING. sleight-of-hand, and a masterful exe- light on in the unblinking eye of the cution of the suspension of disbelief, television cameras: insuring that every Requiem for Truth which (in part) secured the election by word, flourish, and insult was broad- January 14, 2017 @ 11:45 am hypnotizing and seducing the forlorn casted to every home, seared deep and Effects of Media • Elements of Se- and the forgotten. And now we pre- irrevocably into the collective brain. duction • Flow of Information • I of pare ourselves, just six days before IN- the Storm • Intoxicating Embrace • AUGURATION DAY, for a somber Is there a way to end this madness, Life in America • Media Ingestion gathering on the National Mall as you might ask? Or has TRUMP tri- • Nation’s Capital • Performance is TRUMP leads a Requiem Mass for umphantly morphed himself into a Reality truth. media-savvy Antichrist who wields a smart phone to direct fire coming In a world swirling with threats, from Even before taking the oath of office, down from heaven to earth. You do climate change to nuclear armaged- he has reshuffled the deck of reason. not have to go far back in history to don to terrorism, there is no doubt There are so many scandals and con- see what happens when politicians are that the greatest threat of all, with the troversies at play, that the media has hell-bent on controlling the news. But looming TRUMP presidency, is the been buried in an avalanche of disin- never before was the control of in- annihilation of truth. Throughout the formation. Did the Russian email hack formation so immediate, so direct, so 2016 Presidential Campaign came an sway the election? Does Putin have a

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 105 Activism • Effects of Media • Ele- ments of Seduction • The Post Real- ity

Heaven help us: the world is spinning and imploding at the speed of light. We thought the post-9/11, Bush- Cheney, Season in Hell of disinformation & eternal war & economic apoca- lypse would be our demise. But oh no, we somehow managed to pull back from the edge of the abyss without a moment to spare.

Resistance against TRUMP and all Media Weapon of Disinformation, New York Times that he stands for requires new methods that will collapse the seductive compromise file on TRUMP ready between truth and disinformation, we appeal to those who have become for blackmail? Is FBI director James have nothing left. We no longer have hypnotized by his SHOWmanship. Comey a Russian operative? The list democracy. We are no longer living in the 1960s, goes on. Any one of these scandals which God help us, seems an age of alone would threaten our democracy, As we prepare ourselves for this Fri- innocence in contrast to today: long but the sum total has resulted in a day’s Inauguration, let us take a mo- before the personal computer, the In- three-ring media circus, in which the ment to reflect on how we arrived at ternet, the cell phone, and social me- circus master’s rising swamp runneth this horrifying juncture in the Amer- dia. The media of yesterday was radio over. ican story. We could have easily seen and television, and the activists who it coming: our obsession with pop cul- gathered from Berkeley to Washing- Are we at all surprised that the ture, the cult of celebrity, the relent- ton understood how to capture the SHOWMAN is putting on The less media torrent, the total embrace attention of the camera and use it to SHOW for the Ages? From the daily of Now and the impatient hunger their advantage. But now the medium Tweets denigrating anyone who dares for real-time information, the seduc- of television has morphed into some- attack him, to the bullying press con- tion of conspiracy and the obsession thing entirely new: the broadcast is no ferences declaring all anti-TRUMP for scandal, et al, et al. All have con- longer confined to the tv screen, but sentiment as fake news, to the robotic joined in a perfect media storm with rather, information streams pervas- staff surrogates who defend TRUMP’s TRUMP as ringleader, scrambling our ively on our laptops, smart phones, childish outbursts with half-baked, neurons, replacing reason with 24/7 tablets, and social media feeds. There twisted logic, we clearly see the infotainment. is no escape from the media torrent. method behind the madness: an absolute war on truth. And yet, despite TRUMP now rides into office amidst a Yesterday’s media was a one-to-many the fact we have a global telematic in- hurricane of disorientation. Whether form of broadcasting, controlled by formation system instantaneously at for or against, it no longer matters, a few mega-networks who beamed our fingertips, in which every fiction we are all part of the SHOW, a cast of their reports into our livings rooms and false utterance can be potentially citizens who are about to see the door each evening with the nightly news disproved, TRUMP’s torrent of dis- slammed in our faces in this epic the- we all trusted. Today’s media is ubi- information is so effusive, so volat- atrical staging of a coup d’truth. quitous and 24/7 and partisan, a vast ile, so overwhelming, we are literally mediascape across countless cable We Must Now Become a Media drowning in confusion between fact channels, blogs, and news feeds. And Weapon of Disinformation and fiction, between the real and the through social media, we now all have January 16, 2017 @ 4:54 pm imaginary. When the line erodes our own channel of media distribu-

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 106 tion that instantaneously transmits We must fight disinformation with our every thought to global networks an even greater avalanche of disin- of friends and followers. While net- formation to protect ourselves from work and cable television continue to the onslaught of the media storm that manufacture and churn out the news, TRUMP has unleashed. There are there is an alternate universe of media many ways to accomplish this. If you outlets that distributes control, which have the inclination, you can broad- in many ways flattens the hierarchy of cast live from the streets, rant on Face- information traveling across the com- book, author a political blog, write an munications landscape, and TRUMP e-book, or open a radical online shop has mastered and overpowered this of political propaganda. Most of all, new landscape. you cannot be silent!

TRUMP has become his own NBC, We cannot let TRUMP’s rise to power RANDALL PACKER except bigger, with more followers get us down, this is not a moment for than the most popular cable network defeat, it is our finest hour of inspira- RANDALL PACKER IS A MULTIMEDIA shows. His voice booms out from his tion and the ideal time to realize pro- ARTIST, COMPOSER, WRITER AND EDU- smart phone at all hours of the day jects that were heretofore impossible CATOR, AND HAS WORKED AT THE IN- TERSECTION OF INTERACTIVE MEDIA, and night to an audience of over 20 and unimaginable! Now is when we LIVE PERFORMANCE, AND NETWORKED million. His followers, who seem to need to deploy the network to chal- ART SINCE THE 1980S. HE HAS RECEIVED have nothing better to do than com- lenge XTreme TRUMPological dis- CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR HIS SOCIALLY ment on his Tweets, retweet each and orientation. Or in the words of me- AND POLITICALLY INFUSED CRITIQUE OF every missive in a viral explosion that dia artist Mike Stubbs, we need to AN INCREASINGLY TECHNOLOGICAL SO- reverberates resoundly throughout instigate “politically inspired trickery CIETY, AND HAS PERFORMED AND EX- HIBITED AT MUSEUMS, THEATERS, AND the social media universe. and deception designed to exploit the FESTIVALS INTERNATIONALLY. HE HAS shifting boundaries between fiction ALSO WRITTEN EXTENSIVELY ON ART, So, I ask, what to do, given the state and reality in a world of post-truth TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY AND CULTURE of today’s mediaspace? What we now politics.” FOR PUBLICATIONS INCLUDING: MIT need to do is counter the effects by PRESS, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY taking control of the Media Weapon Yes we can!! PRESS, THE LEONARDO JOURNAL FOR of Disinformation. It is the only solu- THE ARTS & SCIENCES, LINK, ART LIES, HYPERALLERGIC, AND CAMBRIDGE UNI- RANDALL PACKER tion. We must take up arms and signal VERSITY PRESS. DR. PACKER HOLDS AN a call-to-action by engaging the power MFA AND PHD IN MUSIC COMPOSITION of the network and techniques of dis- AND HAS TAUGHT MULTIMEDIA AT THE orientation. We must grab hold of our UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, own media channel to resist through MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART, the activation of the mechanisms of AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA IN- STITUTE OF THE ARTS, JOHNS HOPKINS disinformation, engaging in fakery, UNIVERSITY, AND THE MUSEUM OF MOD- and satire, spreading our words and ERN ART. HE IS CURRENTLY A VISITING actions far and wide and everywhere ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT THE SCHOOL all at once through acts of socially me- OF ART, DESIGN & MEDIA AT NANYANG diated super-participation. We must TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY (NTU) IN master the same techniques of propa- SINGAPORE, WHERE HE TEACHES NET- ganda that have served TRUMP (and WORKED ART PRACTICE. AT NTU, HE DIR- ECTS THE OPEN SOURCE STUDIO (OSS) Bush-Cheney) so well. We must cut PROJECT, AN EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE through the ubiquitous noise of mass EXPLORING COLLABORATIVE ONLINE RE- media by generating a counter-offens- SEARCH AND TEACHING IN THE MEDIA ive of our own. ARTS.

DIGIMAG the digicult’s project journal | n° 75 | year XI | spring 2017 107 DIGITAL IDENTITIES SELF NARRATIVES WWW.DIGICULT.IT

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