1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,644 *preroll music* 2 00:00:09,644 --> 00:00:15,769 Herald: And welcome to this beautiful evening 3 00:00:15,769 --> 00:00:18,750 The next talk is very interesting talk. 4 00:00:18,750 --> 00:00:23,500 It's actually.. will go to.. tackle some more.. 5 00:00:23,500 --> 00:00:27,870 quality.. quantity, the army. 6 00:00:27,870 --> 00:00:31,080 Actually using an army to have some balance 7 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:32,540 in a way. 8 00:00:32,540 --> 00:00:33,719 Not... 9 00:00:33,719 --> 00:00:41,009 Yeah, I can actually just say: What can an army do if the army 10 00:00:41,009 --> 00:00:47,679 was effectively (?) put into action, let's say. 11 00:00:47,679 --> 00:00:49,260 So. 12 00:00:49,260 --> 00:00:55,879 Mr. Constant Dullaart will introduce the talk for us today. 13 00:00:55,879 --> 00:01:00,899 And please welcome him with a warm applause. 14 00:01:00,899 --> 00:01:06,249 *applause* 15 00:01:06,249 --> 00:01:08,390 constantdull: First of all, thank you very much for joining. 16 00:01:08,390 --> 00:01:09,540 It's a great privilege 17 00:01:09,540 --> 00:01:14,360 and an honour to speak in this context of the great CCC. 18 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,960 I'm generally more nervous than I would normally be. 19 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:23,700 So, anyway, forgive me if I stutter or something, but hopefully I'm not, 20 00:01:23,700 --> 00:01:25,789 because I drank some beer. 21 00:01:25,789 --> 00:01:29,259 So, also.. so, I built an army. 22 00:01:29,259 --> 00:01:30,700 This much is true. 23 00:01:30,700 --> 00:01:34,600 And it's nice because we're talking about Crypto Wars and about losing the war, 24 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:36,030 and we're talking about all those other kinds of stuff. 25 00:01:36,030 --> 00:01:39,969 We have all these war analogies, so I thought it's also kind of fitting 26 00:01:39,969 --> 00:01:41,280 to present an army to you. 27 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:43,320 But I will actually explain to you 28 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:45,179 how I got there. 29 00:01:45,179 --> 00:01:47,380 So some people might know me from works like these, 30 00:01:47,380 --> 00:01:51,290 which is.. which doesn't have sound. 31 00:01:51,290 --> 00:01:52,740 Ahm.. *laughing* 32 00:01:52,740 --> 00:01:54,279 I think it did originally. 33 00:01:54,279 --> 00:01:56,170 But anyway, this is the Revolving Internet. 34 00:01:56,170 --> 00:01:58,030 I made it in 2010. 35 00:01:58,030 --> 00:02:03,319 So, making jokes of pre-existing web content, which is a company called Google, 36 00:02:03,319 --> 00:02:06,759 that a lot of people seem to keep talking about. 37 00:02:06,759 --> 00:02:08,560 I twisted it around. 38 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:11,940 So I made the internet revolve, 39 00:02:11,940 --> 00:02:16,950 just like the world rotates, I guess. 40 00:02:16,950 --> 00:02:19,950 And then I made this other thing, which is called the death of the URL, 41 00:02:19,950 --> 00:02:22,600 because the URLs died, and this is one of the first things 42 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,680 where it's actually a XXX domain name, which was the first attempt to organize 43 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,860 all the URLs so it would be easier to block on porn content. 44 00:02:30,860 --> 00:02:36,170 But then I just.. yeah, you see what happens, you know, that's happening. 45 00:02:36,170 --> 00:02:38,530 So I basically changed the title. 46 00:02:38,530 --> 00:02:40,480 Normally the referrer is.. 47 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,780 The referrer is actually in the title bar as a URL, but now 48 00:02:44,780 --> 00:02:50,499 the title is actually in the page, and ah.. yeah, you get it. 49 00:02:50,499 --> 00:02:55,299 Yeah, so that's.. or I would like an encrypted treasure map 50 00:02:55,299 --> 00:02:58,440 and this treasure map is actually weirdly enough sold 51 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,770 for like a lot of money in New York in an auction house just because 52 00:03:01,770 --> 00:03:08,920 it points to another treasure island, where the fictive or maybe real treasure 53 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:13,979 of Lima is buried and now there is an actual exhibition buried. 54 00:03:13,979 --> 00:03:18,150 But.. and also I started a company recently, DullTech, 55 00:03:18,150 --> 00:03:20,510 because I want technology to be more dull. 56 00:03:20,510 --> 00:03:21,820 *laughing* 57 00:03:21,820 --> 00:03:24,989 Because I think technology is perceived to be exciting while it's not, 58 00:03:24,989 --> 00:03:29,480 so it should just be dull as fuck as it is. 59 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:30,930 Yeah. 60 00:03:30,930 --> 00:03:32,390 So.. 61 00:03:32,390 --> 00:03:33,470 This is actually a.. 62 00:03:33,470 --> 00:03:37,540 I also retrieved the very first image that was ever photoshopped, 63 00:03:37,540 --> 00:03:41,120 which I was quite happy about finding. 64 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,900 And then I decided to write an.. oh, actually I didn't put a timer. 65 00:03:43,900 --> 00:03:46,599 So anyway, I'll see notes.. ahm. 66 00:03:46,599 --> 00:03:47,599 So this is.. 67 00:03:47,599 --> 00:03:51,280 I wrote a letter to her, to the protagonist in this picture, Jennifer, 68 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,530 and I'll read you the letter right now. 69 00:03:53,530 --> 00:03:57,650 Dear Jennifer, sometime in 1988, through a sitting-in on the beach 70 00:03:57,650 --> 00:04:00,439 in Bora-Bora looking at to Opua island, enjoying your holiday 71 00:04:00,439 --> 00:04:03,349 with a very serious boyfriend. 72 00:04:03,349 --> 00:04:04,990 The serious boyfriend, John, 73 00:04:04,990 --> 00:04:09,469 took a photograph of you sitting on the beach not wearing your bikini top. 74 00:04:09,469 --> 00:04:13,459 John later became your husband and father to your children 75 00:04:13,459 --> 00:04:17,298 Sara, Lisa, Alex and Jane. 76 00:04:17,298 --> 00:04:21,500 John, if you're watching this, hi. 77 00:04:21,500 --> 00:04:24,250 This photograph of a beautiful moment in your personal history 78 00:04:24,250 --> 00:04:27,520 has also become a part of my history and that of many other people. 79 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:31,620 It has even shaped our outlooks on the world at large. 80 00:04:31,620 --> 00:04:35,900 John's image of you became the very first photograph to be publicly altered 81 00:04:35,900 --> 00:04:39,060 by the most influential image manipulation program ever. 82 00:04:39,060 --> 00:04:42,280 Of course, this is why I know the names of your children and this is also 83 00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:49,820 why I know you're trying to do cool things trying to get a .green toplevel domain name. 84 00:04:49,820 --> 00:04:53,300 Anyway, personally I believe that the importance of the domain name has been reduced 85 00:04:53,300 --> 00:04:58,639 to a nostalgic poetic value, but that doesn't matter now. 86 00:04:58,639 --> 00:05:01,390 I still wonder if you felt the world changed there on that beach, 87 00:05:01,390 --> 00:05:05,440 the fact that reality would be more moldable, that normal people could change their history, 88 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:10,580 brighten up their past and put twirl effects on their faces. 89 00:05:10,580 --> 00:05:14,130 That holiday image became the very first photograph publicly manipulated 90 00:05:14,130 --> 00:05:16,680 in Photoshop, and your intimate beach moment 91 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:20,230 became the reality for several potential clients to play with. 92 00:05:20,230 --> 00:05:24,840 2 Jennifers, no Jennifer, less clouds etc. 93 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:28,609 And in essence it was the very first Photoshop meme. 94 00:05:28,609 --> 00:05:33,270 But now the image is nowhere to be found online. 95 00:05:33,270 --> 00:05:35,600 Did John ask you if he could use this particular image? 96 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,020 Did you enjoy seeing yourself on a screen as much as he did? 97 00:05:39,020 --> 00:05:43,610 Did you ever think you would be the muse that would inspire so much contemporary 98 00:05:43,610 --> 00:05:45,750 image making? 99 00:05:45,750 --> 00:05:48,630 Did you ever print out the image yourself? 100 00:05:48,630 --> 00:05:52,800 Would you be willing to share the image with me, and, if so, 101 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:58,380 with the other people to whom it took on such an unexpected significance? 102 00:05:58,380 --> 00:06:02,030 Shouldn't the Smithsonian or any other large institution have the negative 103 00:06:02,030 --> 00:06:08,240 of that image, not to mention digital backups of its endless variations? 104 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:13,490 All these questions have made me decide to redistribute the image, 'Jennifer in Paradise', 105 00:06:13,490 --> 00:06:18,160 as well as I can, somewhat as an artist, somewhat as a digital archaeologist, 106 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:21,529 restoring what few traces of it I could find, 107 00:06:21,529 --> 00:06:26,139 restoring the image from what was available to everyone in the somewhat public space 108 00:06:26,139 --> 00:06:27,990 of the internet. 109 00:06:27,990 --> 00:06:32,930 It was sad to realize this blurry screengrab was the closest I could get to the image, 110 00:06:32,930 --> 00:06:36,050 but beautiful at the same time. 111 00:06:36,050 --> 00:06:39,550 How often do you find an important image that is not online 112 00:06:39,550 --> 00:06:43,120 in several different sizes already? 113 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:45,030 This beautiful artifact of software development 114 00:06:45,030 --> 00:06:48,300 has become an artwork in this way, in which you, or at least your depiction 115 00:06:48,300 --> 00:06:53,630 play a central part in a body of work that has become very dear to me, 116 00:06:53,630 --> 00:06:56,730 a faint blurry pixelated focal point, 117 00:06:56,730 --> 00:07:00,949 a work that celebrates a time when you were young and the world was young 118 00:07:00,949 --> 00:07:05,929 as it still naively believed in the authenticity of the photograph. 119 00:07:05,929 --> 00:07:08,870 Sometimes, when I'm anxious about the future of our surveilled 120 00:07:08,870 --> 00:07:10,690 computer-mediated world, 121 00:07:10,690 --> 00:07:16,210 when I worry about cultural imperialism and the politics behind software design, 122 00:07:16,210 --> 00:07:21,199 I imagine myself travelling back in time, just like the Terminator, 123 00:07:21,199 --> 00:07:25,300 to that important moment in technological world history, 124 00:07:25,300 --> 00:07:28,949 there on that beach in Bora-Bora, and just sit there with you, 125 00:07:28,949 --> 00:07:31,239 watching the tide roll away. 126 00:07:31,239 --> 00:07:33,620 Sincerly, Constant Dullaart. 127 00:07:33,620 --> 00:07:36,020 So, Jennifer never responded. 128 00:07:36,020 --> 00:07:38,000 Thank you. 129 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,540 *laughing**applause* 130 00:07:41,540 --> 00:07:45,220 So, Jennifer never responded, but the cool thing was.. 131 00:07:45,220 --> 00:07:48,070 So this was basically an anecdote in Adobe's history, right, 132 00:07:48,070 --> 00:07:52,500 so there was some talk about this picture, but I couldn't find it online, 133 00:07:52,500 --> 00:07:55,490 and it was in a video which I'll briefly show later. 134 00:07:55,490 --> 00:08:01,199 So, I restored it and I redistributed it with this letter as an open letter. 135 00:08:01,199 --> 00:08:02,780 But of course I'm.. 136 00:08:02,780 --> 00:08:05,979 I put a payload in the jpg. 137 00:08:05,979 --> 00:08:10,880 I stuck in and graphically encrypted some messages in different versions 138 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:15,770 of this jpg because I also wanted to discuss that a jpg, of course, 139 00:08:15,770 --> 00:08:20,740 isn't only a way to distribute images, but it's also the container 140 00:08:20,740 --> 00:08:26,289 of the jpg, and especially if you stuck in a graphically.. inject content, 141 00:08:26,289 --> 00:08:32,350 it actually becomes a unique container discussing the thereoality (?) of 142 00:08:32,350 --> 00:08:34,690 digital photography besides, like.. 143 00:08:34,690 --> 00:08:36,350 I mean, a lot of me.. as an artist, 144 00:08:36,350 --> 00:08:39,900 like I still have to do with a lot of people discussing paper and discussing prints, 145 00:08:39,900 --> 00:08:43,299 and like discussing the value of a file, if you can copy it and this kind of bullshit, 146 00:08:43,299 --> 00:08:48,280 and in the end, I needed to emphasize the fact that like, this image also wasn't 147 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:49,280 mine, 148 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:50,490 I just redistributed it. 149 00:08:50,490 --> 00:08:55,160 So actually, the only thing that's for sale as an artwork, as this, is the password 150 00:08:55,160 --> 00:09:01,520 to actually access the content I injected into it. 151 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:05,280 And then of course you get these questions of institutions, like, how do we show this 152 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,550 in a space? 153 00:09:07,550 --> 00:09:10,300 So this is, like, working predominantly online, 154 00:09:10,300 --> 00:09:13,302 this is the question I get most of the time. 155 00:09:13,302 --> 00:09:16,390 Constant, how do we show this in your exhibition? 156 00:09:16,390 --> 00:09:20,640 So.. mostly I just take really stupid analogies, and they work. 157 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:26,150 So, here of course I used UV paint, and I just, ah, the text, 158 00:09:26,150 --> 00:09:31,570 which is.. well.. maybe it's an image, but the text that was encrypted 159 00:09:31,570 --> 00:09:37,190 in that Jennifer in Paradise image is now painted with UV paint on there, 160 00:09:37,190 --> 00:09:42,130 and I would read it as a performance. 161 00:09:49,410 --> 00:09:52,420 And then, of course, because I wanted to sell the passwords, 162 00:09:52,420 --> 00:09:55,440 I wanted the access to be the commodity, right, so if you're.. like, 163 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,440 within art you're always thinking about a commodity, people wanna own something, 164 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:02,710 they wanna have a cultural gesture, which they can.. 165 00:10:02,710 --> 00:10:05,400 yeah, which they can own, basically. 166 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,900 And then, as an artist you're entitled to do dramatic gestures. 167 00:10:08,900 --> 00:10:12,750 Or at least, I feel like I was entitled to do dramatic gestures. 168 00:10:12,750 --> 00:10:17,060 *laughing* 169 00:10:17,060 --> 00:10:20,070 And to close down the access to the encrypted contents 170 00:10:20,070 --> 00:10:24,350 I had to destroy.. *laughing* 171 00:10:24,350 --> 00:10:26,530 .. anyway, I don't advise you doing that at home 172 00:10:26,530 --> 00:10:32,610 because apparently it's poisonous or whatever.. 173 00:10:32,610 --> 00:10:36,450 *laughing**applause* 174 00:10:36,450 --> 00:10:39,380 So this basically meant that the people.. *shouting from the audience*, *laughs* 175 00:10:39,380 --> 00:10:46,190 so this basically meant that the people that wanted access to that content 176 00:10:46,190 --> 00:10:51,700 needed to, or buy new UV lights, or they needed to buy the password to the file. 177 00:10:51,700 --> 00:10:55,010 The cool thing is that John, after a while, did respond, 178 00:10:55,010 --> 00:10:57,570 because it was.. the Wall Street Journal started to write about it, 179 00:10:57,570 --> 00:11:01,050 and the Wall Street Journal he did find worthy to reply, not my, of course, 180 00:11:01,050 --> 00:11:05,770 my skanky little emails writing the big developer. 181 00:11:05,770 --> 00:11:10,430 But anyway, he did reply, and he was actually super-generous, 182 00:11:10,430 --> 00:11:12,990 and he was actually.. he was saying like, you should have asked me, 183 00:11:12,990 --> 00:11:15,400 but he gave a lot of info, like on which scanner he scanned 184 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:18,480 that first image on, and like he went to.. app, 185 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:23,360 but he also said, like, that he distributed it 186 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:27,300 to other people under a strict non-disclosure agreement, 187 00:11:27,300 --> 00:11:30,050 which I'll prove to you later that it's.. that that's.. not true. 188 00:11:30,050 --> 00:11:31,050 Anyway, but.. 189 00:11:31,050 --> 00:11:35,290 I pointed out what is funny, which is.. it says it's one of the first images 190 00:11:35,290 --> 00:11:36,520 to be photoshopped. 191 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:38,990 I guess that is a word now. 192 00:11:38,990 --> 00:11:42,860 So, I'm really happy that I actually have an email to prove the moment 193 00:11:42,860 --> 00:11:45,620 when the guy that made up 'photoshop' figures out that 'photoshopping' 194 00:11:45,620 --> 00:11:47,450 had become a verb. 195 00:11:47,450 --> 00:11:48,450 *laughing* 196 00:11:48,450 --> 00:11:52,840 Anyway.. and also, like, he used a 24-bits colour image. 197 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,490 So, I don't know, any of you ever using 24-bits colour images? 198 00:11:56,490 --> 00:11:59,680 I don't, but.. maybe you do. 199 00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:05,930 But the cool thing also that he needed to transport the image 200 00:12:05,930 --> 00:12:10,850 on separate floppy disks to save the red, green and blue channels, 201 00:12:10,850 --> 00:12:13,100 which I also thought was quite remarkable. 202 00:12:13,100 --> 00:12:16,710 Anyway, of course.. like, this image is really important because it was 203 00:12:16,710 --> 00:12:20,300 one of the first digital images at that time for people to use 204 00:12:20,300 --> 00:12:22,760 manipulating in Photoshop, because it's 1988, 205 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:25,430 so there's no web, there's no digital images distribution 206 00:12:25,430 --> 00:12:29,240 or wide availability of it, no digital cameras, 207 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:32,140 so they needed to find that as a source. 208 00:12:32,140 --> 00:12:33,400 So this is the demo,actually, where I got it from. 209 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:35,220 John: So I start with it and open up.. constantdull: This is John 210 00:12:35,220 --> 00:12:40,380 John: an image of .. This is a tourist picture I took of my wife when we were on a vacation 211 00:12:40,380 --> 00:12:41,380 in Tahiti. 212 00:12:41,380 --> 00:12:43,490 This is from Bora-Bora. 213 00:12:43,490 --> 00:12:46,370 I used this image for doing a lot of the demonstrations 214 00:12:46,370 --> 00:12:52,960 including the first demonstrations that I did at Adobe Systems. 215 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:55,360 So I have opened a 24-bit image. 216 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:58,300 We're looking at it on an 8-bit display, 217 00:12:58,300 --> 00:13:02,920 but you can still manipulate the 24-bit image. 218 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:07,010 So I'm gonna start by cloning Jennifer, so I'm gonna start by just... 219 00:13:07,010 --> 00:13:10,000 constantdull: Okay, I'm just gonna mute John out for a bit, 220 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,990 because it's super interesting, but you can watch the video later. 221 00:13:11,990 --> 00:13:14,150 The thing is that of course he's cloning his wife, 222 00:13:14,150 --> 00:13:17,390 he asked her to marry her the very next day after this picture. 223 00:13:17,390 --> 00:13:20,600 I'm just saying he's confirming a very age-old cultural stigma 224 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:24,050 of a man objectifying the female body, 225 00:13:24,050 --> 00:13:25,920 and I thought that this was really.. *laughing* 226 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:29,380 .. I mean the fact that he is cloning his wife, and showing that 227 00:13:29,380 --> 00:13:32,460 as a tool to his potential customers.. *laughing* 228 00:13:32,460 --> 00:13:34,930 ..seriously, what the fuck, why didn't he use a bike, 229 00:13:34,930 --> 00:13:36,920 or a turtle or something. 230 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:38,160 *laughing* 231 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,480 John: Copy.. paste. 232 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,370 *applause* 233 00:13:44,370 --> 00:13:49,580 John: And now I have a clone. 234 00:13:49,580 --> 00:13:51,210 constantdull: Anyway, so.. 235 00:13:51,210 --> 00:13:52,870 I've been using that image now because I felt 236 00:13:52,870 --> 00:13:56,310 like I'd made, you know, a new perception of that copy, 237 00:13:56,310 --> 00:13:58,660 and I've been using that into different works 238 00:13:58,660 --> 00:14:01,450 where I'm just rotating it through all the different photoshop filters 239 00:14:01,450 --> 00:14:03,350 that are available. 240 00:14:03,350 --> 00:14:06,860 So you get these kind of images, and you get like these.. little presentations 241 00:14:06,860 --> 00:14:09,480 where I like liquefy Jennifer all over the place, 242 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:12,730 like LitraAlt ? You know, and there's all these 243 00:14:12,730 --> 00:14:16,710 like, images, because of course I'm turning this image into 244 00:14:16,710 --> 00:14:18,890 a ubiquitous kind of image that's everywhere. 245 00:14:18,890 --> 00:14:23,880 So I want to take it out of the idea that it's not visible everywhere. 246 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:27,540 But the cool thing is that finally then John actually responded again, 247 00:14:27,540 --> 00:14:30,010 and that was in the Guardian, and the cool thing is 248 00:14:30,010 --> 00:14:34,160 that, where before it was under a so-called non-disclosure agreement, 249 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:38,810 which actually my lawyer told me that it's an implicit license he gave 250 00:14:38,810 --> 00:14:40,310 because he gave it to other people. 251 00:14:40,310 --> 00:14:44,520 Anyway, but the cool thing is that he gave actually the real image 252 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:46,110 to the Guardian. 253 00:14:46,110 --> 00:14:47,580 So now everybody has access 254 00:14:47,580 --> 00:14:49,910 to that first actual image. 255 00:14:49,910 --> 00:14:51,760 So I found like I still pride myself 256 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:54,980 in kind of tricking him into releasing that first image, 257 00:14:54,980 --> 00:14:57,160 where it was first like a personal image, 258 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,470 and now actually justified to him that the world had 259 00:15:00,470 --> 00:15:04,140 a right to see that very first image and to read that very first image 260 00:15:04,140 --> 00:15:07,850 as an important image in photographic world history. 261 00:15:07,850 --> 00:15:10,870 So I'm kinda happy that this is now available for everyone 262 00:15:10,870 --> 00:15:14,730 to fuck with. 263 00:15:14,730 --> 00:15:17,850 So, this is Jennifer now, or about 3 years ago. 264 00:15:17,850 --> 00:15:19,890 She's.. yeah. 265 00:15:19,890 --> 00:15:20,890 This is her. 266 00:15:20,890 --> 00:15:22,780 I don't have anything to say about this. 267 00:15:22,780 --> 00:15:25,440 *laughing* 268 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:29,020 And also the nice thing is.. nonono, also, I did want to like ask them.. 269 00:15:29,020 --> 00:15:31,000 augh, 15 minutes, thank you. 270 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:35,380 I also wanted to.. this means I have to hurry up. 271 00:15:35,380 --> 00:15:38,680 I actually wanted to take them back to Bora-Bora on like a holiday 272 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,480 and retake that picture, right, so.. and then they perceived it 273 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,540 weirdly enough as an indecent proposal. 274 00:15:44,540 --> 00:15:46,720 They said, like, oh, nonono, that's not ok. 275 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,220 And then I thought, like, maybe they are prudes because she's like 276 00:15:49,220 --> 00:15:53,120 half naked in the picture and she thought I would wanna see her naked again, 277 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:54,970 which I never.. like, I thought of later. 278 00:15:54,970 --> 00:15:59,030 Anyway, but now, if you google her, you get like the first response are.. 279 00:15:59,030 --> 00:16:02,610 like, the first result is my letter to her, which is still very nice, 280 00:16:02,610 --> 00:16:04,350 so I hope she read it by now. 281 00:16:04,350 --> 00:16:05,350 *laughing* 282 00:16:05,350 --> 00:16:09,180 But to be honest I only conversed with her husband 283 00:16:09,180 --> 00:16:14,100 and she never replied which I also think is a bit weird. 284 00:16:14,100 --> 00:16:17,330 Yeah, so.. *laughing* that. 285 00:16:17,330 --> 00:16:22,130 As an artist, I think I'm in the business of turning this into like a more 286 00:16:22,130 --> 00:16:26,950 intricate version of this and then calling it art. 287 00:16:26,950 --> 00:16:30,660 So, I was invited to do an exhibition about clowns 288 00:16:30,660 --> 00:16:35,370 and I gave this press image, and this is actually a.. 289 00:16:35,370 --> 00:16:38,620 an artist, Marina Abramovic‡, that maybe somebody would know, 290 00:16:38,620 --> 00:16:42,140 and it's Klaus Biesenbach, who is like some kind of curator. 291 00:16:42,140 --> 00:16:44,910 And here is them with more curators. 292 00:16:44,910 --> 00:16:51,660 And here is Ai Weiwei with naked children, which is awkward. 293 00:16:51,660 --> 00:16:55,730 Now, it's not.. it's not.. it's a joke, it's a joke, sorry. 294 00:16:55,730 --> 00:17:00,880 So.. ok, I just have to catch my breath. 295 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,210 So, this is weird, right, like now on Instagram, 296 00:17:04,210 --> 00:17:08,530 like, Instagram is actually starting to influence 297 00:17:08,530 --> 00:17:10,690 how the artworld works. 298 00:17:10,690 --> 00:17:12,730 So you would see an artist, you'd see the amount of followers. 299 00:17:12,730 --> 00:17:15,020 This is a collector, for example, and you would see or be 300 00:17:15,020 --> 00:17:17,109 the circle of relevance (?). Like, if they have a certain amounts 301 00:17:17,109 --> 00:17:22,200 of followers, you would think, like, ok, that kind of quantitative validation, 302 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:26,310 or like, this quantified social validation might suggest the kind of access 303 00:17:26,310 --> 00:17:28,550 to like a social capital, s that they're more 304 00:17:28,550 --> 00:17:31,170 relevant as a collector or as an artist. 305 00:17:31,170 --> 00:17:34,480 And like you'd get these collectors that are posing in front of their artworks 306 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,520 to generate more relevance for their artworks. 307 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,740 And in the end I was thinking, if that relevance actually starts .. 308 00:17:41,740 --> 00:17:45,040 if that social capital, that quantification of social capital actually starts 309 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:47,730 to represent actual capital, like in the art world, 310 00:17:47,730 --> 00:17:52,760 but in a lot of other places, then why not buy that capital. 311 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,230 And of course like, if you just do a simple search online 312 00:17:55,230 --> 00:18:00,050 you can buy Facebook followers, Instagram followers, everywhere. 313 00:18:00,050 --> 00:18:04,250 So... and then, I started to research these followers, 314 00:18:04,250 --> 00:18:07,040 and these followers were all automated, right, like, this was their content, 315 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:08,740 this were the pictures they're posting. 316 00:18:08,740 --> 00:18:12,120 So you would get these like kinda automated pictures where it says.. 317 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:17,580 this has the hashtag 'instadroid', but weirdly cropped-off heads 318 00:18:17,580 --> 00:18:19,430 in the image. 319 00:18:19,430 --> 00:18:23,830 This also.. reminiscence with weirdly cropped-off heads 320 00:18:23,830 --> 00:18:24,830 in the image. 321 00:18:24,830 --> 00:18:28,120 And of course, this means it's just an automatically cropped image 322 00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:36,240 because of the at that time dominant-square format of instagram pictures. 323 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,340 So, the tag is 'relax' with another few heads missing. 324 00:18:39,340 --> 00:18:40,790 'Marathon'.. 325 00:18:40,790 --> 00:18:43,050 I never knew you could do a marathon with a snowboard, 326 00:18:43,050 --> 00:18:44,050 but, whatever. 327 00:18:44,050 --> 00:18:46,900 So.. *laughing* this is all, like, generated, right, 328 00:18:46,900 --> 00:18:49,720 and then you even have the bios, the bios are ripped from other people 329 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:50,980 and then manipulated. 330 00:18:50,980 --> 00:18:52,970 So maybe a lot of you people would know this already, 331 00:18:52,970 --> 00:18:57,700 but I thought it was really, like, genuinely awesome poetry, 332 00:18:57,700 --> 00:19:01,940 or found poetry, where.. this is Jonalan, and Jonalan says 333 00:19:01,940 --> 00:19:10,550 ":) I'll prove to the world that I would ecome somehin imporant to they ned someday." 334 00:19:10,550 --> 00:19:13,880 So I think thats.. and Darsed says "I love so much asteniber." 335 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,800 *laughing* 336 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:23,090 And.. anyway, I'll skip this, or.. "simple n pretty n paid" 337 00:19:23,090 --> 00:19:24,090 This is also weird. 338 00:19:24,090 --> 00:19:29,210 Gondar is "mchanical engineer 29 years old, raduated 339 00:19:29,210 --> 00:19:32,060 from ITM in 2007" 340 00:19:32,060 --> 00:19:36,920 I think the original bio reads MIT, but I'm not sure. 341 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,480 And this is one of my favourites, where it says: 342 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:42,200 "Myna isRoxi, I like it be fancy." 343 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,480 *laughing* 344 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,380 "phot, vieo hort poems blogger, web edditing" 345 00:19:49,380 --> 00:19:53,100 Anyway, so this is another artist, maybe you know him, Jeff Koons, 346 00:19:53,100 --> 00:19:56,940 he was also fresh on Instagram, and you know what I did, 347 00:19:56,940 --> 00:20:04,560 I thought like if I can buy these followers, you know, if I can find Jeff Koons, 348 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:08,170 why not actually inject some capital into these people and inject 349 00:20:08,170 --> 00:20:13,410 some social capital, and I decided to buy 2.5 million instagram followers. 350 00:20:13,410 --> 00:20:14,920 *laughing* 351 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,750 Because I had a budget from some institution and I donated these.. *laughing* 352 00:20:18,750 --> 00:20:21,660 I donated these followers to all these artists, right, 353 00:20:21,660 --> 00:20:25,850 because if these artists wanna kind of compare length of their dicks, 354 00:20:25,850 --> 00:20:30,460 to like follower numbers, then why not make them all as equal? 355 00:20:30,460 --> 00:20:40,040 *laughing* So.. *applause* 356 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:41,040 Thank you. 357 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:43,130 So Jeff Koons had 100,000 followers. 358 00:20:43,130 --> 00:20:46,870 Jerry Saltz who is a critic also got 100,000 followers. 359 00:20:46,870 --> 00:20:49,870 Klaus Biesenbach got 100,000 followers. 360 00:20:49,870 --> 00:20:53,170 Richard Prince got 100,000 followers. 361 00:20:53,170 --> 00:20:55,000 This Murakami got 100,000 followers. 362 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,900 Jonas Lund, a friend of mine, got 100,000 followers. 363 00:20:57,900 --> 00:21:02,980 All these people got 100,000 followers exactly, so they were equal to each other. 364 00:21:02,980 --> 00:21:11,940 *laughingwhoopingclapping* 365 00:21:11,940 --> 00:21:16,820 So basically I became the Lenin of social media, right? 366 00:21:16,820 --> 00:21:18,980 *laughing* 367 00:21:18,980 --> 00:21:23,060 Injecting capital making people equal is what I do. 368 00:21:23,060 --> 00:21:27,740 So.. this is.. but the weird thing was that the New York Times called me 369 00:21:27,740 --> 00:21:32,200 and I'm like, holy fuck, NYT is calling me, it's on the phone, on this shitty little 370 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:34,990 freephone, or fairphone, like on.. audience: Yeah! 371 00:21:34,990 --> 00:21:37,920 Heh, exactly, fairphone.. *laughing* there's the New York Times, right. 372 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:40,690 So I'm thinking, this is relevant. 373 00:21:40,690 --> 00:21:41,700 And she keeps asking me 374 00:21:41,700 --> 00:21:45,180 - I'm hurrying up -, like, she's asking me, like, yeah, but like, 375 00:21:45,180 --> 00:21:48,050 do you know other people that are selling artworks for Instagram, 376 00:21:48,050 --> 00:21:51,170 and like, did you make money for Instagram, and I'm like, 377 00:21:51,170 --> 00:21:54,820 that's.. like, what I'm criticizing, like, this is not what the work is about, like, 378 00:21:54,820 --> 00:21:57,530 I'm not actually telling you like maybe somebody won't spot 379 00:21:57,530 --> 00:22:01,520 a work of mine through Instagram, but that's, like, I'm saying, like this.. 380 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:05,850 validation system of you thinking an artwork is important is corrupt. 381 00:22:05,850 --> 00:22:06,950 It's vulnerable. 382 00:22:06,950 --> 00:22:09,430 It's a system that's fucked, and it's a commercial system 383 00:22:09,430 --> 00:22:12,130 that we're buying into and you shouldn't believe it. 384 00:22:12,130 --> 00:22:15,690 So the funny thing was that in this article she quoted Simon de Pury 385 00:22:15,690 --> 00:22:19,810 as an auctioneer and she quoted his follower number to mention 386 00:22:19,810 --> 00:22:21,670 how important he was. 387 00:22:21,670 --> 00:22:22,670 *laughing* 388 00:22:22,670 --> 00:22:25,300 But I bought that guy.. 389 00:22:25,300 --> 00:22:28,080 I bought that motherfucker, like, how many followers? 390 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,200 *laughing* 25,000 followers, so why the fuck 391 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:35,120 did the New York Times quote, you know, that actual number to inject.. 392 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,110 like, to mention some kind of relevance for that auctioneer. 393 00:22:38,110 --> 00:22:42,490 The same with Ai Weiwei, they also quoted like how many followers they had, 394 00:22:42,490 --> 00:22:44,900 like, I own these followers. 395 00:22:44,900 --> 00:22:47,220 *laughing* 396 00:22:47,220 --> 00:22:51,470 Anyway, so we're in a world.. we're in a world that these kind of images, 397 00:22:51,470 --> 00:22:54,770 this is the most-liked image, that this is gonna be our culture. 398 00:22:54,770 --> 00:22:59,180 That this is gonna be the most relevant image, because this is the most liked. 399 00:22:59,180 --> 00:23:00,850 And that's a shitty place to be. 400 00:23:00,850 --> 00:23:01,850 You know. 401 00:23:01,850 --> 00:23:02,850 We need to have 402 00:23:02,850 --> 00:23:06,010 other tools to talk about the value of images, to talk about our culture, 403 00:23:06,010 --> 00:23:08,590 and not get trapped into these stigmas. 404 00:23:08,590 --> 00:23:13,400 So as an artist we need other tools to just make, you know, reversed thumbs, 405 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:16,020 we need another way to reflect on that landscape. 406 00:23:16,020 --> 00:23:17,350 So then you have.. 407 00:23:17,350 --> 00:23:20,530 I'm not gonna explain technically, but you.. 408 00:23:20,530 --> 00:23:21,540 *laughing* 409 00:23:21,540 --> 00:23:26,130 So, Friend Bomber, Mass Planner, all these little things, and I got information 410 00:23:26,130 --> 00:23:29,560 because I was asked for the.. 411 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:34,800 I was asked for Schirn, Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 412 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,350 to do another project, and they gave me some money, and Schirn Frankfurt 413 00:23:38,350 --> 00:23:40,050 is based in Hessen. 414 00:23:40,050 --> 00:23:44,590 And Hessen delivered the soldiers to fight the first American revolution. 415 00:23:44,590 --> 00:23:47,640 So I thought it would be more than fitting to bring them back to life 416 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:49,820 and fight this American revolution. 417 00:23:49,820 --> 00:23:50,980 So I took all the names from 418 00:23:50,980 --> 00:23:54,970 the actual Hessian soldiers that fought in the United States, were paid by the British, 419 00:23:54,970 --> 00:23:59,250 and actually with that money the very first contemporary art museum was funded, 420 00:23:59,250 --> 00:24:01,550 the Fridericianum. 421 00:24:01,550 --> 00:24:04,510 Anyway, 1780, all these names I got through 422 00:24:04,510 --> 00:24:08,820 the wonderful Landesgeschichte information system, but also the professor 423 00:24:08,820 --> 00:24:10,309 that helped me. 424 00:24:10,309 --> 00:24:15,830 So, these are all the accounts that I made active. 425 00:24:15,830 --> 00:24:18,850 *laughing* 426 00:24:18,850 --> 00:24:23,410 But the weird thing was that all these accounts, like, a lot of these were created in Pakistan, 427 00:24:23,410 --> 00:24:26,940 also, they were actually manually crafted, also, I had like automated ones, 428 00:24:26,940 --> 00:24:31,400 but also tried.. this guy.. have manually crafted ones. 429 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,640 And then these pictures showed up, and I actually had to explain them, 430 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:40,750 like, the Hessian soldiers were white, and like I shouldn't have like non-white. 431 00:24:40,750 --> 00:24:43,830 like, passport pictures on there. 432 00:24:43,830 --> 00:24:46,270 And then, when.. but then actually, 433 00:24:46,270 --> 00:24:49,020 when I was typing this in Skype, weirdly enough all these people 434 00:24:49,020 --> 00:24:53,150 use Skype, which I thought was very weird, knowing what we know, 435 00:24:53,150 --> 00:24:56,350 but anyway, it felt so weird to ask that and say, like, could you please 436 00:24:56,350 --> 00:24:59,700 use white images, that I'd stopped asking that. 437 00:24:59,700 --> 00:25:03,710 So, if somebody talks to me about, like, the conceptual error, 438 00:25:03,710 --> 00:25:09,010 why the artificial army isn't all white, it's because I don't give a fuck anymore, 439 00:25:09,010 --> 00:25:15,150 and I don't wanna ask somebody in Pakistan to only use white images, cause it's fucked. 440 00:25:15,150 --> 00:25:17,130 *applause* 441 00:25:17,130 --> 00:25:21,910 Anyway, so of course because it's.. thank you. 442 00:25:21,910 --> 00:25:24,310 Because it's also of course like, it's very weird that we're using this 443 00:25:24,310 --> 00:25:29,510 kind of like system where it's like... a lot of this kind of artificial capital, 444 00:25:29,510 --> 00:25:34,290 of this artificial social capital is crafted in lower wage countries, 445 00:25:34,290 --> 00:25:36,880 and we're actually supporting a system by buying these followers 446 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:43,400 and buying this kind of black hat SEO shit, with like having a very large groups of people 447 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:48,850 crafting this kind of.. these kind of accounts, and.. anyway, I think there's .. 448 00:25:48,850 --> 00:25:52,250 a kind of messy thing, but the nice thing about like using army as an analogy 449 00:25:52,250 --> 00:25:56,110 is that it brought me onto BBC News. 450 00:25:56,110 --> 00:25:58,290 And this is also really funny, because I think this is again 451 00:25:58,290 --> 00:25:59,360 like the value of.. 452 00:25:59,360 --> 00:26:01,850 I could've said, like, I make a.. 453 00:26:01,850 --> 00:26:05,250 like a large collection of phone verified accounts, 454 00:26:05,250 --> 00:26:09,800 but I think by saying I made a fake army, or I made an army, 455 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,270 got me on the news and then the funny thing is that actually 456 00:26:12,270 --> 00:26:16,520 although it's been on the news and in the Guardian again, 457 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:21,580 the nice thing is over half of the army is still alive. 458 00:26:21,580 --> 00:26:25,760 So they're still out there, I'm still distributing likes, 459 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:26,870 I'm still using that. 460 00:26:26,870 --> 00:26:28,110 If you would want to help me, 461 00:26:28,110 --> 00:26:30,750 please give me.. if you have like spare Facebook accounts, 462 00:26:30,750 --> 00:26:34,140 which I hope you don't, if you do, fuck Facebook, 463 00:26:34,140 --> 00:26:39,700 get the fuck out of there, but also, if you do have them, 464 00:26:39,700 --> 00:26:44,060 give them to me and please accept the friends of like another 1000 soldiers 465 00:26:44,060 --> 00:26:46,930 and the next few thousand soldiers that I'm gonna make, 466 00:26:46,930 --> 00:26:49,180 and let's create some social noise. 467 00:26:49,180 --> 00:26:52,231 Let's create some social noise of like.. and fight this kind of 468 00:26:52,231 --> 00:26:56,750 weird artificial system of like quality validation through.. 469 00:26:56,750 --> 00:27:01,580 through this kind of artificial social measurement system. 470 00:27:01,580 --> 00:27:04,309 So yeah, like.. fuck Facebook. 471 00:27:04,309 --> 00:27:10,100 Anyway, I'll just play with a short piece of.. is that a zero or do I have like 472 00:27:10,100 --> 00:27:11,680 a few more minutes left? 473 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:12,680 Ok. 474 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,420 So I'll play a short.. a brief part 475 00:27:15,420 --> 00:27:19,630 of my video would like.. my call to war, let's say. 476 00:27:19,630 --> 00:27:24,410 *phone ringing* This is not a part of the video. 477 00:27:24,410 --> 00:27:25,620 *laughing* 478 00:27:25,620 --> 00:27:29,520 [voice] Hi and welcome to our tutorial. 479 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:34,170 [voice] In this video, we will show you how to create identities through the quick star 480 00:27:34,170 --> 00:27:39,780 wizard. 481 00:27:39,780 --> 00:27:56,640 *trumpet playing*, *yelling* 482 00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:32,850 *energetic brass instrumental music* 483 00:28:32,850 --> 00:28:35,890 *applause* 484 00:28:35,890 --> 00:28:37,790 constantdull: Yeah, thank you very much. 485 00:28:37,790 --> 00:28:44,750 *applause* 486 00:28:44,750 --> 00:28:51,180 So, yeah, if there's questions, I would just like to say, at the end of the project 487 00:28:51,180 --> 00:28:53,160 I'll also release like a.. of course, like the 488 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:54,910 cool little graphs that you see 489 00:28:54,910 --> 00:28:59,800 when you hit the BBC how many profiles were deleted by Facebook, and how, 490 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:05,090 and like.. and you'll see like how many little like attacks sparked which.. 491 00:29:05,090 --> 00:29:07,480 how many deletions, and these kind of things. 492 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:13,380 But, again, if you could help me have these fake identities 493 00:29:13,380 --> 00:29:17,040 infiltrate the real world with the real identities and let them 494 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:20,040 mash up together, I would be very grateful for this project. 495 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:25,130 Herald: I would also like to boost up my Instagram, my Twitter, my Facebook too. 496 00:29:25,130 --> 00:29:27,610 constantdull: Oh, you want more followers? Herald: Yeah! 497 00:29:27,610 --> 00:29:28,460 constantdull: Oh yeah, ok. Herald: Please. 498 00:29:28,460 --> 00:29:29,460 10,000.. 499 00:29:29,460 --> 00:29:30,460 constantdull: I get that a lot. 500 00:29:30,460 --> 00:29:32,790 Herald: Are we not friends? 100.000 501 00:29:32,790 --> 00:29:33,610 *audience laughing* 502 00:29:33,610 --> 00:29:36,200 *laughs* Thank you so much for the super-interesting talk. 503 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:42,580 We.. I think we time for 2 questions, or even 1 question from.. 504 00:29:42,580 --> 00:29:45,880 constantdull: Oh, but there's a big.. there's a big no on that. 505 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:47,260 constantdull: I'm.. Herald: No. 506 00:29:47,260 --> 00:29:48,260 No. 507 00:29:48,260 --> 00:29:51,429 So.. yeah, actually.. if there's any questions then I think 508 00:29:51,429 --> 00:29:54,690 we can do that outside of the talk right now. 509 00:29:54,690 --> 00:29:55,930 Thank you very much! 510 00:29:55,930 --> 00:29:57,660 constantdull: Thank you! *applause* 511 00:29:57,660 --> 00:30:08,521 *postroll music*