Google Gift
| Student | Lasse van den Bosch Christensen |
|---|---|
| Graduation Year | |
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| Work Description | Google Gift is a collection of fictive gifts addressed to Google, and each a response to a gift given by Google in first place. The gifts are suggested by former volunteers who contributed to a Google-owned platform, which eventually was sold and shut down. The gifts manifests an individual volunteer's own particular feelings and attitudes towards Google. |
| Bio | Lasse van den Bosch Christensen (DK) is a graphic designer living in Rotterdam. On a theoretical and practical level his research engages digital labour, changing modes of production, and the critical aspects of crowd-sourcing. He furthermore freelances as a graphic and webdesigner addressing the border between 'code' and design. He recently established a design studio with Marlon Harder. |
| URL | http://www.absentarrays.info/googlegift |
Google Gift (Lasse van den Bosch Christensen, 2014) is a collection of fictive gifts addressed to Google, and each a response to a gift given by Google in first place. The gifts are suggested by former volunteers who contributed to a Google-owned platform, which eventually was sold and shut down. The gifts manifests an individual volunteer's own particular feelings and attitudes towards Google.
Google Gift
In 2012 Google sold the 3D modeling software Google SketchUp. 
This lead to the collapse of a web platform solely driven by a community of volunteer modelers. 
For six years they had populated the virtual globe - Google Earth - with their creations. 
Most volunteers continued contributing until the very end. Just before announcing the sale of Google SketchUp, Google sent a gift to its most successful and productive volunteers, whom they addressed as 'top modelers'. 
The gift contained a 'Thank You'-postcard, a mug, a pencil case, Post-It notes and two stickers.
In the aftermath of the platform's abrupt end, I asked several former 'top modelers' to give a gift in return. Each gift on display manifests an individual modeler’s own particular feelings and attitudes towards Google.