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The Unconscious Performance of Identity: A Review of Johannes P. Osterhoff’s “Google”

This online collaborative performance of search engine queries was collected and organized by Johannes P. Osterhoff in an attempt to show the viewer that your serch history can show more about a person than meets the eye. Not only do the number of serches show a persons tendency to use the interenet as a main source of information but the concent that the individual is serching for can allow the viewer to see thier interests or information the individual is seeking. From there the viewer can infer things about that persons tastes and habbits, for example; if a person is to serch two to three times a week stock prices for Apple it can be implied that they need to know the prices becasuse they have an invested interest in that stock. Like wise if the person is serching what to wear on first date or good first date ideas, it can be infered the person is either helping another person prepare for a date or that individual is going on a date them selves. Every bit of information from what we serch to how fast we type shows apart of who we are, the moment our fingeres start typing we begin to leave our digital footprints on our devices and the internet its self. 

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#109 Is Facebook Spying on You?

This podcast is very eye-opening as it points out a few stories about how Facebook may or may not be using its user bases cell phone microphones to pick up on speech to text advertisement targeting. For example, when cooking someone will say I wish we had a blender and then they will see Amazon targeted ads of blenders. This is not only something I have also noticed in my life and friends as well. The two hosts of the podcast make arguments for both sides about how Facebook may be using our microphones as speech to text marketing or Googles search history and Facebooks tightly woven net allows for the digital trails of not just our own searches but others as well to appear on our feed. 

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Video Editing Exercise  

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Critique 2 Follow Up

Following up to the Presentation on Monday, Project Blackout was a success and was demoed in class not just on my phone but on my fellow class mates electronics as well. The Faraday cages successfully blocked the incoming signals thus preventing phone calls to go through and not leaving any traces of a call ever being made as the phone was completely unconnected from any service provider. This proved to be a successful disconnect from the grid and shield against any unwanted data collection or services when the phone is not in use. Some useful notes from the critique were that for future reference I should stylize the pouch/bag more and try to show what happens when my phone is disconnected from the grid. For example use a data map of where and when my phone blacks out, what data goes missing from maps and other forms of tracking. Overall I felt that this was a successful project and demonstration of the faradays cages ability to disconnect one’s devices from the grid of surveillances. 

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Artist Statement

Project Blackout is my latest work that deals with the invasion of privacy that our unsecured devices allow companies/skilled and willing individuals to intrude on our privacy. To counter this invisible intruder I have made a bag and pouch that act as a shield from any and all signals that our cell phones and computers can pick up. These shields are faraday cages that surround the devices and block all incoming and outgoing signals. This can prevent any hackers from reaching the phone or even disable Google/Facebook/Snapchats constant GPS tracking of the device. 

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Project 2 Activism

For my next project revolving around the idea of activism, I plan on making a work that combats the digital invasion or privacy that is currently a problem on popular internet sites such as Facebook and Twitter. I would demonstrate in a performance art the steps taken to secure your devices and use activist aesthetic choices to reinforce the message. 

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Spoon made in Blender

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I was finally able to get blender to work after having used 3D paint to make the snowman!

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Museum day! Today I went to the Crow Museum of Asian Art. The piece that stood out to me the most was the Tosei Gusoku Type Armor Garniture of Abe Masayoshi Lord of the Fukuyama Fiefdom. This was not just any set of armor as it was embroidered with finely detailed designs of Japanese maple trees and fierce dragons to adorn the armor as its wearer (Abe Masayoshi a daimyō of the mid-Edo period, who ruled the Oshi Domain, served as Kyoto Shoshidai.) would ride into battle. This was not only perplexing to see the many layers in the armor that would protect the samurai warriors but yet not being made of mettle was perplexing as this armor was made to protect from the katana which is one of the most dangerous swords ever produced. To have the empty suit sitting in the middle of the room as if Abe Masayoshi’s presence could be felt but not seen. This gave a very strong feeling of Abe Masayoshi’s shell as an object that is left that is an exterior inventory of his body. After spending time with many of the other objects in the Japanese section of the museum I am really glad I was able to see such a historically significant work that was beautifully designed but also served a purpose in protection, and the fact that its still intact means it must have done its job in protection of Abe Masayoshi. 

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Finished and Working Roll a Ball Mini Game with audio. Made the goal to escape the surrounding walls. The ball can break down the walls but takes a lot of force as the bricks that build up the walls are quite dense. I also gave the ball a jump function to level the playing field against the tough walls. 

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Roll a Ball Work in Progress pics

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Activism/Hacktivism

To begin, I do note that the second slide said that there may be challenging content and differing opinions and I found this reading understandable and agreeable up until slide 22 through 27, I found this section extremely bias and offensive to me. Even the label of being on the more passive end of the spectrum being called “slacking” creates a notion of who is saying this in the first place... an activist. Similarly, for example, if a person’s stance on abortion is pro-life or pro-choice, both use the prefix “pro” to insinuate that their view is good based on their perspective. So setting the frame of reference or sliding chart as Activism/Skactivism did; if one were pro-life they would say the other side is anti-life and if one were to say one is pro-choice the other side would be anti-choice. So rather than using the description of Activism to Passivism using the phrase “Slacktivism” is insulting to a person who is passive and dispises conflict. The label of Slacktivist and its association with prayer insults my religious beliefs in prayer as something that is a major part of my life which I believe I have seen results manifest from. So putting prayer as the furthest thing that a person could do to help is blasphemy and in some religions/cultures disregarding prayer so carelessly has caused wars. It would be understandable if the act of prayer was in the middle but putting the thumbs up on social media over prays is flat out insulting and disregarding of any people who are religious and believe the impact of prayers. For example, there are families that will not take their children to the doctor when they are sick and will instead pray and believe in the power of their faith to resolve issues. While I know this could be an entire topic on its own I think it's important to consider the viewers of materials who may have different views/opinions and to not blatantly disregard those so easily.

In light of the few slides I disagreed with, I found the hacktivism slides to be very informative and inspiring for the next project. I like the idea of counter working the surveillance system but I am not sure as to yet how I would do that. I particularly am inspired by Zach Blas’s work with masks. I think that is a creative and aesthetically pleasing way to distort ones face from facial recognition software. I would like to perform or create an intervention of surveillance with reference to hacktivism, perhaps creating a hardware that will disrupt the cell phone surveillance techniques that can be used when an anonymous person hacks our personal devices. 

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Artist Statment for Black Hole Simulation

I created this work with the idea in mind that I would like to create the best interactive and engaging simulation of what it would be like to be on the event horizon of a black hole. I studied the physics of how we understand black holes and their interaction with matter, light, and time. For the Audio I used frequency recordings that were converted into audio that were then posted to youtube by NASA as a way to further enhance the experience. This interactive work aims to present the viewer with a rudimentary manifestation of what a black hole would be like to view up close. 

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Finished