Google Gift
| Student | Lasse van den Bosch Christensen |
|---|---|
| Graduation Year | |
| Featured image | File:File:DerrickSketchUp.jpg |
| 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
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.