Google Portrait Series
Four Google self-portraits commissioned by Microwave Festival, Hong Kong, 2009.
Each code represents a visual enryption of a search on ‘Aram Bartholl’ in a specific language on Google.
A Google Portrait is a drawing which contains the Google URL search string of the portrayed person in encoded form. Any camera smart phone is capable to decode the matrix-code with the help of barcode reader like software. The result points the mobile phone browser to a search on the portrayed person’s name at Google.
A large number of people can be found by name on Google today. Everyone who is working on a computer and uses the internet regularly can be found on Google. Even people who don’t use computers can be found sometimes because their names appear in ‘old’ media (i.e. books) on the net.
‘Egosurfing’ is a popular way for a user to find out what websites and information Google returns on his/her name search.
How many hits does Google show on my name? Am I popular? Do I want to be found at all? Who writes about me? What do people find out about me when they google my name? Am I in concurrence to other persons with the same name? Do I rely on the results Google shows me on a person’s name? In which way do I relate to someone which I only known by Google results?
Tweet Bubble Series ‘Loud Tweets’ from aram bartholl on Vimeo.
