User:Mathijs van Oosterhoudt/rwrm/essay
WIP / notes / rambles
Supernew descriptions of work (50-100 words):
Netspace
What
Netspace is a first person 3D game-like environment which can be navigated on a laptop or computer, which lets you view random audio, video, text and images from the web based on where these images and other data are physically located in the world. Walking forward moves you north on the worldmap, down back south and so forth. Cities form the busiest spots audio / video wise due to the amount of data hosted there.
How
A set of web crawlers go from website to website, saving each website's IP address and URL. These IPs are then looked up in the geoIP database to give them a corresponding latitude and longitude. A 3D engine then uses this database to create it's virtual realm, basing the coordinates on the websites' latitude and longitude.
Why
To explore the web presence of countries and spaces. Is Nigeria really full of princes and is North Korea really off the grid? A lot of things you assume are from specific places might not actually be hosted there at all, forcing you to rethink your online prejudices.
geoWords
What
geoWords is an online website which allows you to search for certain keywords or tags, which are then represented geographically. The tool searches for photographs on Flickr linked to these tags or words, but instead of showing the photographs it represents them with a colored mark on a black and white worldmap. Afterwards, other words can be entered and will be represented in a different color, allowing users to compare the geographical spread and use of words.
How
A lot of photographs nowadays are uploaded with their longitude and latitude coordinates. This application runs a search query on Flickr for photographs with such data, that match the specific tag, then draws them on the map using the given coordinates without showing the photograph.
Why
To research the spread of words, where is aluminium used, where is aluminum used? Are cats more popular in Japan, yet dogs more popular in Australia? While not a definitive answer, this tool gives a glimpse into worldwide word usage on the internet.
Descriptions of work (old):
Dialhack
An installation that lets people listen in on two computers calling random telephone numbers and connecting them to each other.
Memoirs of Madame Brainviller
Installation that generates poetry through incoming spam e-mails using Oulipou methods.
Flutter
Generate butterflies with ai shaped like the hands of users.
Netspace
A 3D environment that orders websites geographically instead of contextually and allows for a digital representation of a place.
Identify key themes:
Re-use, re-contextualizing & altering of existing data, communication (on the internet).
Identify how texts you have already produced might be useful:
explanations of previous projects, annotation of Jos de Mul - The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Recombination, text for resubmit
To-do:
Identify contextualizing texts (art work or literature) (Needs more)
Annotate contextualizing texts
Very rough draft / set-up:
My practice is one divided into two main mediums, that of new media, software, installations & other various digital forms and that of film. Regardless, the same methods, thoughts and interests are present in both. Through explaining and comparing a few projects I'll explain the main core of these.
Netspace, a project currently in progress, is an interactive installation which crawls the web and makes a database that sorts found images, videos, text and audio based on their geographical storage location to create a three dimensional collage of said data based on their closeness in reality rather then their contextual closeness. Where you'd normally browse the web from page to page through subject and contextual links by using hyperlinks, one can now 'browse' it through it's relative physical server-location.
Browsing is done through walking in a three dimensional gaming engine, where one's direction determines which data is retrieved next, for example walking forward moves you north, whilst turning around and walking back moves you further south. By viewing the web in this way, we can make links or compare the presumptions and connotations we have of a certain physical location, city or place to it's digital representation or presence on the web, thereby also questioning what connotations or prejudices people have on countries and their web presence (Is Nigeria really a place full of spam? Does North Korea really have no web presence?)
This came forth from another project done before Netspace; geoWords, a project where photos related to certain tags are represented on a world map to show their location of origin. The actual photo itself is not shown, but what's left is a map of locations in which photographs where certain photographs with specific tags are taken. A clear example would be searching for Beijing, which lights up Beijing. However, it becomes more interesting when you do searches or comparisons for things such as aluminum vs aluminium or searching for particular events, like nuclear disasters.
An older project, Memoirs of Madam Brinvillers, is a constantly changing piece which generates poetry from live incoming spam e-mails, re-ordering lines and combining multiple e-mails to create poetry that isn't so much about it's content but rather it's programmability, using rules used in Oulipou poetry.
In all three of these and many more, the central theme is that of re-using data. The 'output' of the works whether static of dynamic are all heavily influenced by the input of a third party, often using data which is readily available but serving a different purpose, or simply presented in a different manner. I try to convey my interest in these forms of data by shining a different light on them with or without alteration. The interesting use of grammar and spelling and creative use of words in spam becomes more apparent when you present them in a context in which creativity is expected, rather then in it's normal context where it's seen as a way of scamming people. Geographical data and keywords or tags are often presented with photographs on the internet, but leaving out the photograph itself and linking both the geographical data and tags together generates new insights. Output of projects are often not static, but dynamic to the audience or user.
A simple summary of this comes down to (Third party input → Change) + (User interaction) = Output.
To add: Comparison to film projects, link to annotated texts, inspiration / interests / working methods.