The Internet = Raw Material For Art

An effigy of the world we live in on Google Maps, images of ourselves on Facebook, our holiday videos on Youtube and even our meals on Instagram. This huge picture is growing with every second – and we all are the painters. It is a multisided artpiece: There is for instance the aspect of collecting and selling personal data, total surveillance, but also free dispersion of information and global exchange of views and knowledge.

This image is in the focus of my artistic research. I am interested in the way, social networks are functioning, what a “Like”-button has to do with structures of power in our society. What a virtual identity is and what it means, being able to switch the world on and off as you wish. If there is a democratic revolution in store for us and in which way this is connected to cognitive capitalism and globalization. If anonymity really could permit coercion-free discourse, if we could learn to understand the strange/different better or if we are about to lose ourselves in an intransparent pulp of data fragments and commercial ads.

As an artist I want to explore and unlock this virtual world. I mainly use Memes, Games, Social Media and the strategies of advertising to infiltrate people’s every day lives and make their choices directly visible…