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preroll music
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Herald: And welcome to this beautiful evening
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The next talk is very interesting talk.
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It's actually.. will go to.. tackle some more..
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quality.. quantity, the army.
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Actually using an army to have some balance
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in a way.
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Not...
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Yeah, I can actually just say:[br]What can an army do if the army
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was effectively (?) put into action,[br]let's say.
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So.
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Mr. Constant Dullaart will introduce[br]the talk for us today.
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And please welcome him[br]with a warm applause.
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applause
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constantdull: First of all, thank you very much[br]for joining.
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It's a great privilege
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and an honour to speak in this context[br]of the great CCC.
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I'm generally more nervous than[br]I would normally be.
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So, anyway, forgive me if I stutter[br]or something, but hopefully I'm not,
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because I drank some beer.
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So, also.. so, I built an army.
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This much is true.
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And it's nice because we're talking[br]about Crypto Wars and about losing the war,
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and we're talking about all those other[br]kinds of stuff.
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We have all these war analogies,[br]so I thought it's also kind of fitting
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to present an army to you.
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But I will actually explain to you
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how I got there.
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So some people might know me[br]from works like these,
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which is.. which doesn't have sound.
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Ahm.. laughing
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I think it did originally.
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But anyway, this is the Revolving Internet.
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I made it in 2010.
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So, making jokes of pre-existing web content,[br]which is a company called Google,
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that a lot of people seem to[br]keep talking about.
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I twisted it around.
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So I made the internet revolve,
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just like the world rotates,[br]I guess.
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And then I made this other thing,[br]which is called the death of the URL,
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because the URLs died,[br]and this is one of the first things
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where it's actually a XXX domain name,[br]which was the first attempt to organize
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all the URLs so it would be easier to block[br]on porn content.
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But then I just.. yeah, you see what happens,[br]you know, that's happening.
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So I basically changed the title.
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Normally the referrer is..
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The referrer is actually in the title bar[br]as a URL, but now
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the title is actually in the page,[br]and ah.. yeah, you get it.
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Yeah, so that's.. or I would like an[br]encrypted treasure map
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and this treasure map is actually[br]weirdly enough sold
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for like a lot of money in New York[br]in an auction house just because
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it points to another treasure island,[br]where the fictive or maybe real treasure
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of Lima is buried and now there is an[br]actual exhibition buried.
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But.. and also I started a company[br]recently, DullTech,
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because I want technology to be more dull.
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laughing
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Because I think technology is perceived[br]to be exciting while it's not,
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so it should just be dull as fuck[br]as it is.
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Yeah.
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So..
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This is actually a..
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I also retrieved the very first image[br]that was ever photoshopped,
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which I was quite happy about finding.
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And then I decided to write an..[br]oh, actually I didn't put a timer.
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So anyway, I'll see notes.. ahm.
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So this is..
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I wrote a letter to her,[br]to the protagonist in this picture, Jennifer,
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and I'll read you the letter right now.
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Dear Jennifer, sometime in 1988,[br]through a sitting-in on the beach
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in Bora-Bora looking at to Opua island,[br]enjoying your holiday
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with a very serious boyfriend.
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The serious boyfriend, John,
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took a photograph of you sitting[br]on the beach not wearing your bikini top.
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John later became your husband[br]and father to your children
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Sara, Lisa, Alex and Jane.
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John, if you're watching this, hi.
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This photograph of a beautiful moment[br]in your personal history
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has also become a part of my history[br]and that of many other people.
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It has even shaped our outlooks[br]on the world at large.
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John's image of you became the very first[br]photograph to be publicly altered
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by the most influential image[br]manipulation program ever.
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Of course, this is why I know the names[br]of your children and this is also
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why I know you're trying to do cool things[br]trying to get a .green toplevel domain name.
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Anyway, personally I believe that the importance[br]of the domain name has been reduced
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to a nostalgic poetic value,[br]but that doesn't matter now.
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I still wonder if you felt the world[br]changed there on that beach,
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the fact that reality would be more moldable,[br]that normal people could change their history,
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brighten up their past and put[br]twirl effects on their faces.
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That holiday image became the very first[br]photograph publicly manipulated
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in Photoshop,[br]and your intimate beach moment
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became the reality for several[br]potential clients to play with.
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2 Jennifers, no Jennifer, less clouds etc.
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And in essence it was the[br]very first Photoshop meme.
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But now the image is nowhere[br]to be found online.
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Did John ask you if he could use[br]this particular image?
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Did you enjoy seeing yourself[br]on a screen as much as he did?
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Did you ever think you would be the muse[br]that would inspire so much contemporary
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image making?
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Did you ever print out the image yourself?
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Would you be willing to share[br]the image with me, and, if so,
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with the other people to whom it took[br]on such an unexpected significance?
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Shouldn't the Smithsonian or any other[br]large institution have the negative
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of that image, not to mention digital[br]backups of its endless variations?
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All these questions have made me decide[br]to redistribute the image, 'Jennifer in Paradise',
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as well as I can, somewhat as an artist,[br]somewhat as a digital archaeologist,
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restoring what few traces[br]of it I could find,
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restoring the image from what was available[br]to everyone in the somewhat public space
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of the internet.
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It was sad to realize this blurry screengrab[br]was the closest I could get to the image,
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but beautiful at the same time.
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How often do you find an important[br]image that is not online
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in several different sizes already?
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This beautiful artifact[br]of software development
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has become an artwork in this way,[br]in which you, or at least your depiction
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play a central part in a body of work[br]that has become very dear to me,
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a faint blurry pixelated focal point,
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a work that celebrates a time when[br]you were young and the world was young
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as it still naively believed in the[br]authenticity of the photograph.
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Sometimes, when I'm anxious about[br]the future of our surveilled
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computer-mediated world,
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when I worry about cultural imperialism[br]and the politics behind software design,
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I imagine myself travelling back in[br]time, just like the Terminator,
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to that important moment in technological[br]world history,
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there on that beach in Bora-Bora,[br]and just sit there with you,
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watching the tide roll away.
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Sincerly, Constant Dullaart.
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So, Jennifer never responded.
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Thank you.
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laughingapplause
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So, Jennifer never responded,[br]but the cool thing was..
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So this was basically an anecdote[br]in Adobe's history, right,
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so there was some talk about this[br]picture, but I couldn't find it online,
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and it was in a video which[br]I'll briefly show later.
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So, I restored it and I redistributed it[br]with this letter as an open letter.
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But of course I'm..
0:08:02.780,0:08:05.979
I put a payload[br]in the jpg.
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I stuck in and graphically encrypted[br]some messages in different versions
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of this jpg because I also wanted[br]to discuss that a jpg, of course,
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isn't only a way to distribute images,[br]but it's also the container
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of the jpg, and especially if you[br]stuck in a graphically.. inject content,
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it actually becomes a unique container[br]discussing the thereoality (?) of
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digital photography besides, like..
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I mean, a lot of me.. as an artist,
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like I still have to do with a lot of people[br]discussing paper and discussing prints,
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and like discussing the value of a file,[br]if you can copy it and this kind of bullshit,
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and in the end, I needed to emphasize[br]the fact that like, this image also wasn't
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mine,
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I just redistributed it.
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So actually, the only thing that's for sale[br]as an artwork, as this, is the password
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to actually access the content[br]I injected into it.
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And then of course you get these questions[br]of institutions, like, how do we show this
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in a space?
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So this is, like, working predominantly online,
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this is the question I get most of the time.
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Constant, how do we show this[br]in your exhibition?
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So.. mostly I just take really stupid[br]analogies, and they work.
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So, here of course I used UV paint,[br]and I just, ah, the text,
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which is.. well.. maybe it's an image,[br]but the text that was encrypted
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in that Jennifer in Paradise image[br]is now painted with UV paint on there,
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and I would read it as a performance.
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And then, of course, because I[br]wanted to sell the passwords,
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I wanted the access to be the commodity,[br]right, so if you're.. like,
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within art you're always thinking about[br]a commodity, people wanna own something,
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they wanna have a cultural gesture,[br]which they can..
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yeah, which they can own, basically.
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And then, as an artist you're[br]entitled to do dramatic gestures.
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Or at least, I feel like I was entitled[br]to do dramatic gestures.
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laughing
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And to close down the access[br]to the encrypted contents
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I had to destroy..[br]laughing
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.. anyway, I don't advise[br]you doing that at home
0:10:26.530,0:10:32.610
because apparently it's[br]poisonous or whatever..
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laughingapplause
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So this basically meant that the people..[br]shouting from the audience, laughs
0:10:39.380,0:10:46.190
so this basically meant that the people[br]that wanted access to that content
0:10:46.190,0:10:51.700
needed to, or buy new UV lights, or they[br]needed to buy the password to the file.
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The cool thing is that John,[br]after a while, did respond,
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because it was.. the Wall Street Journal[br]started to write about it,
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and the Wall Street Journal he did find[br]worthy to reply, not my, of course,
0:11:01.050,0:11:05.770
my skanky little emails writing[br]the big developer.
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But anyway, he did reply,[br]and he was actually super-generous,
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and he was actually.. he was saying like,[br]you should have asked me,
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but he gave a lot of info, like[br]on which scanner he scanned
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that first image on, and[br]like he went to.. app,
0:11:18.480,0:11:23.360
but he also said, like,[br]that he distributed it
0:11:23.360,0:11:27.300
to other people under a strict[br]non-disclosure agreement,
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which I'll prove to you later that it's..[br]that that's.. not true.
0:11:30.050,0:11:31.050
Anyway, but..
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I pointed out what is funny,[br]which is.. it says it's one of the first images
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to be photoshopped.
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I guess that is a word now.
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So, I'm really happy that I actually have[br]an email to prove the moment
0:11:42.860,0:11:45.620
when the guy that made up 'photoshop'[br]figures out that 'photoshopping'
0:11:45.620,0:11:47.450
had become a verb.
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laughing
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Anyway.. and also, like, he used[br]a 24-bits colour image.
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So, I don't know, any of you ever[br]using 24-bits colour images?
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I don't, but.. maybe you do.
0:11:59.680,0:12:05.930
But the cool thing also that he[br]needed to transport the image
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on separate floppy disks to save[br]the red, green and blue channels,
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which I also thought was[br]quite remarkable.
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Anyway, of course.. like, this image[br]is really important because it was
0:12:16.710,0:12:20.300
one of the first digital images[br]at that time for people to use
0:12:20.300,0:12:22.760
manipulating in Photoshop,[br]because it's 1988,
0:12:22.760,0:12:25.430
so there's no web, there's no[br]digital images distribution
0:12:25.430,0:12:29.240
or wide availability of it,[br]no digital cameras,
0:12:29.240,0:12:32.140
so they needed to find that[br]as a source.
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So this is the demo,actually,[br]where I got it from.
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John: So I start with it and open up..[br]constantdull: This is John
0:12:35.220,0:12:40.380
John: an image of .. This is a tourist picture[br]I took of my wife when we were on a vacation
0:12:40.380,0:12:41.380
in Tahiti.
0:12:41.380,0:12:43.490
This is from Bora-Bora.
0:12:43.490,0:12:46.370
I used this image for doing[br]a lot of the demonstrations
0:12:46.370,0:12:52.960
including the first demonstrations[br]that I did at Adobe Systems.
0:12:52.960,0:12:55.360
So I have opened a 24-bit image.
0:12:55.360,0:12:58.300
We're looking at it on an 8-bit display,
0:12:58.300,0:13:02.920
but you can still manipulate[br]the 24-bit image.
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So I'm gonna start by cloning Jennifer,[br]so I'm gonna start by just...
0:13:07.010,0:13:10.000
constantdull: Okay, I'm just gonna mute[br]John out for a bit,
0:13:10.000,0:13:11.990
because it's super interesting,[br]but you can watch the video later.
0:13:11.990,0:13:14.150
The thing is that of course he's[br]cloning his wife,
0:13:14.150,0:13:17.390
he asked her to marry her[br]the very next day after this picture.
0:13:17.390,0:13:20.600
I'm just saying he's confirming[br]a very age-old cultural stigma
0:13:20.600,0:13:24.050
of a man objectifying[br]the female body,
0:13:24.050,0:13:25.920
and I thought that this was really..[br]laughing
0:13:25.920,0:13:29.380
.. I mean the fact that he is[br]cloning his wife, and showing that
0:13:29.380,0:13:32.460
as a tool to his potential customers..[br]laughing
0:13:32.460,0:13:34.930
..seriously, what the fuck,[br]why didn't he use a bike,
0:13:34.930,0:13:36.920
or a turtle or something.
0:13:36.920,0:13:38.160
laughing
0:13:38.160,0:13:41.480
John: Copy.. paste.
0:13:41.480,0:13:44.370
applause
0:13:44.370,0:13:49.580
John: And now I have a clone.
0:13:49.580,0:13:51.210
constantdull: Anyway, so..
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I've been using[br]that image now because I felt
0:13:52.870,0:13:56.310
like I'd made, you know,[br]a new perception of that copy,
0:13:56.310,0:13:58.660
and I've been using that into[br]different works
0:13:58.660,0:14:01.450
where I'm just rotating it through[br]all the different photoshop filters
0:14:01.450,0:14:03.350
that are available.
0:14:03.350,0:14:06.860
So you get these kind of images,[br]and you get like these.. little presentations
0:14:06.860,0:14:09.480
where I like liquefy Jennifer[br]all over the place,
0:14:09.480,0:14:12.730
like LitraAlt ?[br]You know, and there's all these
0:14:12.730,0:14:16.710
like, images, because of course[br]I'm turning this image into
0:14:16.710,0:14:18.890
a ubiquitous kind of image[br]that's everywhere.
0:14:18.890,0:14:23.880
So I want to take it out of the idea[br]that it's not visible everywhere.
0:14:23.880,0:14:27.540
But the cool thing is that finally then[br]John actually responded again,
0:14:27.540,0:14:30.010
and that was in the Guardian,[br]and the cool thing is
0:14:30.010,0:14:34.160
that, where before it was under[br]a so-called non-disclosure agreement,
0:14:34.160,0:14:38.810
which actually my lawyer told me[br]that it's an implicit license he gave
0:14:38.810,0:14:40.310
because he gave it to other people.
0:14:40.310,0:14:44.520
Anyway, but the cool thing is that he[br]gave actually the real image
0:14:44.520,0:14:46.110
to the Guardian.
0:14:46.110,0:14:47.580
So now everybody has access
0:14:47.580,0:14:49.910
to that first actual image.
0:14:49.910,0:14:51.760
So I found like I still pride myself
0:14:51.760,0:14:54.980
in kind of tricking him into[br]releasing that first image,
0:14:54.980,0:14:57.160
where it was first like[br]a personal image,
0:14:57.160,0:15:00.470
and now actually justified[br]to him that the world had
0:15:00.470,0:15:04.140
a right to see that very first image[br]and to read that very first image
0:15:04.140,0:15:07.850
as an important image in[br]photographic world history.
0:15:07.850,0:15:10.870
So I'm kinda happy that this is[br]now available for everyone
0:15:10.870,0:15:14.730
to fuck with.
0:15:14.730,0:15:17.850
So, this is Jennifer now,[br]or about 3 years ago.
0:15:17.850,0:15:19.890
She's.. yeah.
0:15:19.890,0:15:20.890
This is her.
0:15:20.890,0:15:22.780
I don't have anything to[br]say about this.
0:15:22.780,0:15:25.440
laughing
0:15:25.440,0:15:29.020
And also the nice thing is.. nonono,[br]also, I did want to like ask them..
0:15:29.020,0:15:31.000
augh, 15 minutes, thank you.
0:15:31.000,0:15:35.380
I also wanted to.. this means[br]I have to hurry up.
0:15:35.380,0:15:38.680
I actually wanted to take them back[br]to Bora-Bora on like a holiday
0:15:38.680,0:15:42.480
and retake that picture, right,[br]so.. and then they perceived it
0:15:42.480,0:15:44.540
weirdly enough as an indecent proposal.
0:15:44.540,0:15:46.720
They said, like, oh, nonono, that's not ok.
0:15:46.720,0:15:49.220
And then I thought, like, maybe[br]they are prudes because she's like
0:15:49.220,0:15:53.120
half naked in the picture and she thought[br]I would wanna see her naked again,
0:15:53.120,0:15:54.970
which I never.. like, I thought of later.
0:15:54.970,0:15:59.030
Anyway, but now, if you google her,[br]you get like the first response are..
0:15:59.030,0:16:02.610
like, the first result is my letter to her,[br]which is still very nice,
0:16:02.610,0:16:04.350
so I hope she read it by now.
0:16:04.350,0:16:05.350
laughing
0:16:05.350,0:16:09.180
But to be honest I only[br]conversed with her husband
0:16:09.180,0:16:14.100
and she never replied which I[br]also think is a bit weird.
0:16:14.100,0:16:17.330
Yeah, so.. laughing that.
0:16:17.330,0:16:22.130
As an artist, I think I'm in the business[br]of turning this into like a more
0:16:22.130,0:16:26.950
intricate version of this[br]and then calling it art.
0:16:26.950,0:16:30.660
So, I was invited to do an[br]exhibition about clowns
0:16:30.660,0:16:35.370
and I gave this press image,[br]and this is actually a..
0:16:35.370,0:16:38.620
an artist, Marina Abramovic, that maybe[br]somebody would know,
0:16:38.620,0:16:42.140
and it's Klaus Biesenbach, who is[br]like some kind of curator.
0:16:42.140,0:16:44.910
And here is them with more curators.
0:16:44.910,0:16:51.660
And here is Ai Weiwei[br]with naked children, which is awkward.
0:16:51.660,0:16:55.730
Now, it's not.. it's not.. it's[br]a joke, it's a joke, sorry.
0:16:55.730,0:17:00.880
So.. ok, I just have to[br]catch my breath.
0:17:00.880,0:17:04.210
So, this is weird, right,[br]like now on Instagram,
0:17:04.210,0:17:08.530
like, Instagram is actually[br]starting to influence
0:17:08.530,0:17:10.690
how the artworld works.
0:17:10.690,0:17:12.730
So you would see an artist,[br]you'd see the amount of followers.
0:17:12.730,0:17:15.020
This is a collector, for example,[br]and you would see or be
0:17:15.020,0:17:17.109
the circle of relevance (?).[br]Like, if they have a certain amounts
0:17:17.109,0:17:22.200
of followers, you would think, like,[br]ok, that kind of quantitative validation,
0:17:22.200,0:17:26.310
or like, this quantified social validation[br]might suggest the kind of access
0:17:26.310,0:17:28.550
to like a social capital, s[br]that they're more
0:17:28.550,0:17:31.170
relevant as a collector or as an artist.
0:17:31.170,0:17:34.480
And like you'd get these collectors[br]that are posing in front of their artworks
0:17:34.480,0:17:37.520
to generate more relevance[br]for their artworks.
0:17:37.520,0:17:41.740
And in the end I was thinking,[br]if that relevance actually starts ..
0:17:41.740,0:17:45.040
if that social capital, that quantification[br]of social capital actually starts
0:17:45.040,0:17:47.730
to represent actual capital,[br]like in the art world,
0:17:47.730,0:17:52.760
but in a lot of other places,[br]then why not buy that capital.
0:17:52.760,0:17:55.230
And of course like, if you just do[br]a simple search online
0:17:55.230,0:18:00.050
you can buy Facebook followers,[br]Instagram followers, everywhere.
0:18:00.050,0:18:04.250
So... and then, I started to research[br]these followers,
0:18:04.250,0:18:07.040
and these followers were all automated,[br]right, like, this was their content,
0:18:07.040,0:18:08.740
this were the pictures they're posting.
0:18:08.740,0:18:12.120
So you would get these like kinda[br]automated pictures where it says..
0:18:12.120,0:18:17.580
this has the hashtag 'instadroid',[br]but weirdly cropped-off heads
0:18:17.580,0:18:19.430
in the image.
0:18:19.430,0:18:23.830
This also..[br]reminiscence with weirdly cropped-off heads
0:18:23.830,0:18:24.830
in the image.
0:18:24.830,0:18:28.120
And of course, this means[br]it's just an automatically cropped image
0:18:28.120,0:18:36.240
because of the at that time dominant-square[br]format of instagram pictures.
0:18:36.240,0:18:39.340
So, the tag is 'relax' with another few[br]heads missing.
0:18:39.340,0:18:40.790
'Marathon'..
0:18:40.790,0:18:43.050
I never knew you could do[br]a marathon with a snowboard,
0:18:43.050,0:18:44.050
but, whatever.
0:18:44.050,0:18:46.900
So.. laughing[br]this is all, like, generated, right,
0:18:46.900,0:18:49.720
and then you even have the bios,[br]the bios are ripped from other people
0:18:49.720,0:18:50.980
and then manipulated.
0:18:50.980,0:18:52.970
So maybe a lot of you people[br]would know this already,
0:18:52.970,0:18:57.700
but I thought it was really, like,[br]genuinely awesome poetry,
0:18:57.700,0:19:01.940
or found poetry, where..[br]this is Jonalan, and Jonalan says
0:19:01.940,0:19:10.550
":) I'll prove to the world that I would ecome[br]somehin imporant to they ned someday."
0:19:10.550,0:19:13.880
So I think thats..[br]and Darsed says "I love so much asteniber."
0:19:13.880,0:19:16.800
laughing
0:19:16.800,0:19:23.090
And.. anyway, I'll skip this, or..[br]"simple n pretty n paid"
0:19:23.090,0:19:24.090
This is also weird.
0:19:24.090,0:19:29.210
Gondar is[br]"mchanical engineer 29 years old, raduated
0:19:29.210,0:19:32.060
from ITM in 2007"
0:19:32.060,0:19:36.920
I think the original bio reads MIT,[br]but I'm not sure.
0:19:36.920,0:19:39.480
And this is one of my favourites,[br]where it says:
0:19:39.480,0:19:42.200
"Myna isRoxi, I like it be fancy."
0:19:42.200,0:19:45.480
laughing
0:19:45.480,0:19:49.380
"phot, vieo hort poems blogger,[br]web edditing"
0:19:49.380,0:19:53.100
Anyway, so this is another artist,[br]maybe you know him, Jeff Koons,
0:19:53.100,0:19:56.940
he was also fresh on Instagram,[br]and you know what I did,
0:19:56.940,0:20:04.560
I thought like if I can buy these followers,[br]you know, if I can find Jeff Koons,
0:20:04.560,0:20:08.170
why not actually inject some capital[br]into these people and inject
0:20:08.170,0:20:13.410
some social capital, and I decided to buy[br]2.5 million instagram followers.
0:20:13.410,0:20:14.920
laughing
0:20:14.920,0:20:18.750
Because I had a budget from some[br]institution and I donated these.. laughing
0:20:18.750,0:20:21.660
I donated these followers to[br]all these artists, right,
0:20:21.660,0:20:25.850
because if these artists wanna[br]kind of compare length of their dicks,
0:20:25.850,0:20:30.460
to like follower numbers, then why not[br]make them all as equal?
0:20:30.460,0:20:40.040
laughing So..[br]applause
0:20:40.040,0:20:41.040
Thank you.
0:20:41.040,0:20:43.130
So Jeff Koons had 100,000 followers.
0:20:43.130,0:20:46.870
Jerry Saltz who is a critic[br]also got 100,000 followers.
0:20:46.870,0:20:49.870
Klaus Biesenbach got 100,000 followers.
0:20:49.870,0:20:53.170
Richard Prince got 100,000 followers.
0:20:53.170,0:20:55.000
This Murakami got 100,000 followers.
0:20:55.000,0:20:57.900
Jonas Lund, a friend of mine,[br]got 100,000 followers.
0:20:57.900,0:21:02.980
All these people got 100,000 followers[br]exactly, so they were equal to each other.
0:21:02.980,0:21:11.940
laughingwhoopingclapping
0:21:11.940,0:21:16.820
So basically I became the Lenin[br]of social media, right?
0:21:16.820,0:21:18.980
laughing
0:21:18.980,0:21:23.060
Injecting capital making people[br]equal is what I do.
0:21:23.060,0:21:27.740
So.. this is.. but the weird thing was[br]that the New York Times called me
0:21:27.740,0:21:32.200
and I'm like, holy fuck, NYT is calling me,[br]it's on the phone, on this shitty little
0:21:32.200,0:21:34.990
freephone, or fairphone, like on..[br]audience: Yeah!
0:21:34.990,0:21:37.920
Heh, exactly, fairphone.. laughing[br]there's the New York Times, right.
0:21:37.920,0:21:40.690
So I'm thinking, this is relevant.
0:21:40.690,0:21:41.700
And she keeps asking me
0:21:41.700,0:21:45.180
- I'm hurrying up -, like,[br]she's asking me, like, yeah, but like,
0:21:45.180,0:21:48.050
do you know other people that are[br]selling artworks for Instagram,
0:21:48.050,0:21:51.170
and like, did you make money[br]for Instagram, and I'm like,
0:21:51.170,0:21:54.820
that's.. like, what I'm criticizing, like,[br]this is not what the work is about, like,
0:21:54.820,0:21:57.530
I'm not actually telling you like[br]maybe somebody won't spot
0:21:57.530,0:22:01.520
a work of mine through Instagram,[br]but that's, like, I'm saying, like this..
0:22:01.520,0:22:05.850
validation system of you thinking[br]an artwork is important is corrupt.
0:22:05.850,0:22:06.950
It's vulnerable.
0:22:06.950,0:22:09.430
It's a system that's[br]fucked, and it's a commercial system
0:22:09.430,0:22:12.130
that we're buying into and you[br]shouldn't believe it.
0:22:12.130,0:22:15.690
So the funny thing was that[br]in this article she quoted Simon de Pury
0:22:15.690,0:22:19.810
as an auctioneer and she quoted[br]his follower number to mention
0:22:19.810,0:22:21.670
how important he was.
0:22:21.670,0:22:22.670
laughing
0:22:22.670,0:22:25.300
But I bought that guy..
0:22:25.300,0:22:28.080
I bought that motherfucker,[br]like, how many followers?
0:22:28.080,0:22:31.200
laughing[br]25,000 followers, so why the fuck
0:22:31.200,0:22:35.120
did the New York Times quote, you know,[br]that actual number to inject..
0:22:35.120,0:22:38.110
like, to mention some kind of[br]relevance for that auctioneer.
0:22:38.110,0:22:42.490
The same with Ai Weiwei, they also quoted[br]like how many followers they had,
0:22:42.490,0:22:44.900
like, I own these followers.
0:22:44.900,0:22:47.220
laughing
0:22:47.220,0:22:51.470
Anyway, so we're in a world..[br]we're in a world that these kind of images,
0:22:51.470,0:22:54.770
this is the most-liked image,[br]that this is gonna be our culture.
0:22:54.770,0:22:59.180
That this is gonna be the most relevant[br]image, because this is the most liked.
0:22:59.180,0:23:00.850
And that's a shitty place to be.
0:23:00.850,0:23:01.850
You know.
0:23:01.850,0:23:02.850
We need to have
0:23:02.850,0:23:06.010
other tools to talk about the value[br]of images, to talk about our culture,
0:23:06.010,0:23:08.590
and not get trapped into these stigmas.
0:23:08.590,0:23:13.400
So as an artist we need other tools[br]to just make, you know, reversed thumbs,
0:23:13.400,0:23:16.020
we need another way to reflect[br]on that landscape.
0:23:16.020,0:23:17.350
So then you have..
0:23:17.350,0:23:20.530
I'm not gonna explain[br]technically, but you..
0:23:20.530,0:23:21.540
laughing
0:23:21.540,0:23:26.130
So, Friend Bomber, Mass Planner,[br]all these little things, and I got information
0:23:26.130,0:23:29.560
because I was asked for the..
0:23:29.560,0:23:34.800
I was asked for Schirn, Kunsthalle Frankfurt,
0:23:34.800,0:23:38.350
to do another project, and they gave[br]me some money, and Schirn Frankfurt
0:23:38.350,0:23:40.050
is based in Hessen.
0:23:40.050,0:23:44.590
And Hessen delivered the soldiers to[br]fight the first American revolution.
0:23:44.590,0:23:47.640
So I thought it would be more than[br]fitting to bring them back to life
0:23:47.640,0:23:49.820
and fight this American revolution.
0:23:49.820,0:23:50.980
So I took all the names from
0:23:50.980,0:23:54.970
the actual Hessian soldiers that fought[br]in the United States, were paid by the British,
0:23:54.970,0:23:59.250
and actually with that money the very first[br]contemporary art museum was funded,
0:23:59.250,0:24:01.550
the Fridericianum.
0:24:01.550,0:24:04.510
Anyway, 1780,[br]all these names I got through
0:24:04.510,0:24:08.820
the wonderful Landesgeschichte[br]information system, but also the professor
0:24:08.820,0:24:10.309
that helped me.
0:24:10.309,0:24:15.830
So, these are all the accounts[br]that I made active.
0:24:15.830,0:24:18.850
laughing
0:24:18.850,0:24:23.410
But the weird thing was that all these accounts,[br]like, a lot of these were created in Pakistan,
0:24:23.410,0:24:26.940
also, they were actually manually crafted,[br]also, I had like automated ones,
0:24:26.940,0:24:31.400
but also tried.. this guy.. have manually[br]crafted ones.
0:24:31.400,0:24:34.640
And then these pictures showed up,[br]and I actually had to explain them,
0:24:34.640,0:24:40.750
like, the Hessian soldiers were white,[br]and like I shouldn't have like non-white.
0:24:40.750,0:24:43.830
like, passport pictures on there.
0:24:43.830,0:24:46.270
And then, when.. but then actually,
0:24:46.270,0:24:49.020
when I was typing this in Skype,[br]weirdly enough all these people
0:24:49.020,0:24:53.150
use Skype, which I thought was very weird,[br]knowing what we know,
0:24:53.150,0:24:56.350
but anyway, it felt so weird to ask that[br]and say, like, could you please
0:24:56.350,0:24:59.700
use white images, that[br]I'd stopped asking that.
0:24:59.700,0:25:03.710
So, if somebody talks to me[br]about, like, the conceptual error,
0:25:03.710,0:25:09.010
why the artificial army isn't all white,[br]it's because I don't give a fuck anymore,
0:25:09.010,0:25:15.150
and I don't wanna ask somebody in Pakistan[br]to only use white images, cause it's fucked.
0:25:15.150,0:25:17.130
applause
0:25:17.130,0:25:21.910
Anyway, so of course because it's..[br]thank you.
0:25:21.910,0:25:24.310
Because it's also of course like,[br]it's very weird that we're using this
0:25:24.310,0:25:29.510
kind of like system where it's like...[br]a lot of this kind of artificial capital,
0:25:29.510,0:25:34.290
of this artificial social capital is crafted[br]in lower wage countries,
0:25:34.290,0:25:36.880
and we're actually supporting a system[br]by buying these followers
0:25:36.880,0:25:43.400
and buying this kind of black hat SEO shit,[br]with like having a very large groups of people
0:25:43.400,0:25:48.850
crafting this kind of.. these kind of accounts,[br]and.. anyway, I think there's ..
0:25:48.850,0:25:52.250
a kind of messy thing, but the nice thing[br]about like using army as an analogy
0:25:52.250,0:25:56.110
is that it brought me onto BBC News.
0:25:56.110,0:25:58.290
And this is also really funny,[br]because I think this is again
0:25:58.290,0:25:59.360
like the value of..
0:25:59.360,0:26:01.850
I could've said, like, I make a..
0:26:01.850,0:26:05.250
like a large collection of[br]phone verified accounts,
0:26:05.250,0:26:09.800
but I think by saying I made[br]a fake army, or I made an army,
0:26:09.800,0:26:12.270
got me on the news and then[br]the funny thing is that actually
0:26:12.270,0:26:16.520
although it's been on the news[br]and in the Guardian again,
0:26:16.520,0:26:21.580
the nice thing is over half of[br]the army is still alive.
0:26:21.580,0:26:25.760
So they're still out there, I'm still[br]distributing likes,
0:26:25.760,0:26:26.870
I'm still using that.
0:26:26.870,0:26:28.110
If you would want to help me,
0:26:28.110,0:26:30.750
please give me.. if you have like[br]spare Facebook accounts,
0:26:30.750,0:26:34.140
which I hope you don't,[br]if you do, fuck Facebook,
0:26:34.140,0:26:39.700
get the fuck out of there,[br]but also, if you do have them,
0:26:39.700,0:26:44.060
give them to me and please accept[br]the friends of like another 1000 soldiers
0:26:44.060,0:26:46.930
and the next few thousand soldiers[br]that I'm gonna make,
0:26:46.930,0:26:49.180
and let's create some social noise.
0:26:49.180,0:26:52.231
Let's create some social noise[br]of like.. and fight this kind of
0:26:52.231,0:26:56.750
weird artificial system of like[br]quality validation through..
0:26:56.750,0:27:01.580
through this kind of artificial social[br]measurement system.
0:27:01.580,0:27:04.309
So yeah, like.. fuck Facebook.
0:27:04.309,0:27:10.100
Anyway, I'll just play with a short piece[br]of.. is that a zero or do I have like
0:27:10.100,0:27:11.680
a few more minutes left?
0:27:11.680,0:27:12.680
Ok.
0:27:12.680,0:27:15.420
So I'll play a short.. a brief part
0:27:15.420,0:27:19.630
of my video would like..[br]my call to war, let's say.
0:27:19.630,0:27:24.410
phone ringing[br]This is not a part of the video.
0:27:24.410,0:27:25.620
laughing
0:27:25.620,0:27:29.520
[voice] Hi and welcome to our tutorial.
0:27:29.520,0:27:34.170
[voice] In this video, we will show you how[br]to create identities through the quick star
0:27:34.170,0:27:39.780
wizard.
0:27:39.780,0:27:56.640
trumpet playing, yelling
0:27:56.640,0:28:32.850
energetic brass instrumental music
0:28:32.850,0:28:35.890
applause
0:28:35.890,0:28:37.790
constantdull: Yeah, thank you very much.
0:28:37.790,0:28:44.750
applause
0:28:44.750,0:28:51.180
So, yeah, if there's questions, I would just[br]like to say, at the end of the project
0:28:51.180,0:28:53.160
I'll also release like a..[br]of course, like the
0:28:53.160,0:28:54.910
cool little graphs that you see
0:28:54.910,0:28:59.800
when you hit the BBC how many profiles[br]were deleted by Facebook, and how,
0:28:59.800,0:29:05.090
and like.. and you'll see like how many[br]little like attacks sparked which..
0:29:05.090,0:29:07.480
how many deletions,[br]and these kind of things.
0:29:07.480,0:29:13.380
But, again, if you could help me[br]have these fake identities
0:29:13.380,0:29:17.040
infiltrate the real world with the[br]real identities and let them
0:29:17.040,0:29:20.040
mash up together, I would be[br]very grateful for this project.
0:29:20.040,0:29:25.130
Herald: I would also like to boost up[br]my Instagram, my Twitter, my Facebook too.
0:29:25.130,0:29:27.610
constantdull: Oh, you want more followers?[br]Herald: Yeah!
0:29:27.610,0:29:28.460
constantdull: Oh yeah, ok.[br]Herald: Please.
0:29:28.460,0:29:29.460
10,000..
0:29:29.460,0:29:30.460
constantdull: I get that a lot.
0:29:30.460,0:29:32.790
Herald: Are we not friends?[br]100.000
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audience laughing
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laughs Thank you so much[br]for the super-interesting talk.
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We.. I think we time for 2 questions,[br]or even 1 question from..
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constantdull: Oh, but there's a big..[br]there's a big no on that.
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constantdull: I'm..[br]Herald: No.
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No.
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So.. yeah, actually..[br]if there's any questions then I think
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we can do that outside of the talk right now.
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Thank you very much!
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constantdull: Thank you![br]applause
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