NO STORAGE SEARCH ENGINE — Situated in a fictional society in which data storage and recording have been completely banned, the No Storage Search Engine is a technology product that connects seekers of information with people who possess information. In this fictional society all knowledge is only held in people's minds, and shared orally.
The No Storage Search Engine works like a standard search engine but rather than draw from stored/indexed data, it connects users to ‘search agents’ who provide real time responses to search requests. Visitors to the website can input a search which is sent to an anonymous search agent who then answers their question verbally - the user hears their response in the browser after which it disappears forever. When users send an image request, their search agent takes a photograph of something in their environment (an interpretative representation of the search term) that appears on the user’s screen for a moment before disappearing. Search agents produce a wide variety of responses based on their personal histories, perspectives, geographies and immediate environment. No data is ever stored.
A pilot of the search engine ran with the help of a team of volunteers from March 10th to 19th, 2023 as part of the show Unproductive Solutions.
The No Storage Search Engine works like a standard search engine but rather than draw from stored/indexed data, it connects users to ‘search agents’ who provide real time responses to search requests. Visitors to the website can input a search which is sent to an anonymous search agent who then answers their question verbally - the user hears their response in the browser after which it disappears forever. When users send an image request, their search agent takes a photograph of something in their environment (an interpretative representation of the search term) that appears on the user’s screen for a moment before disappearing. Search agents produce a wide variety of responses based on their personal histories, perspectives, geographies and immediate environment. No data is ever stored.
A pilot of the search engine ran with the help of a team of volunteers from March 10th to 19th, 2023 as part of the show Unproductive Solutions.
Northern Lights for Sydney
BLACK BOX — I interviewed Uber drivers in Bangalore, asking them to describe the company they work for (where they imagine Uber is, what Uber looks like, who runs Uber, etc.) I then hired local photo studios to visualize these descriptions using their existing digital image libraries.
AUTOPORTRAIT — Anonymous online workers I paid $.50 each to draw their own portrait. Custom software application combines their drawings in real-time.
STILL LIFE WITH A CURTAIN — The result of a two-stage process in which I paid online workers to describe a popular impressionist painting. I then engaged 3D rendering studios in Bangalore to create digital simulations of the workers’ descriptions.
Text descriptions from mechanical turks
OUTSOURCED TYPEFACE — Visitors at a gallery in New York could input letters or words which were instantly communicated to a sign painter in Bangalore, which he would then paint in a close imitation of Helvetica Bold. Visitors could see each letter they typed on the screen, almost instantly, in hand-painted Helvetica.
TWIN SHARING — archives 1000 images of “twin sharing” bedrooms advertised by realtors and landlords on online no-broker groups in Bangalore. These shared rooms are usually occupied by Bangalore’s IT workers and students - often migrants from other parts of the country.
Blind drawings I created while I wore a VR headset and travelled through the virtual platform Sansar, “a popular oasis for self-expression, exploration, and live events”. Each drawing archives a moment I spent in one of the thousands of user created worlds, which would typically leave no trace.
Beach and Fallen Sunset — 3.1.2020
Loved Warrior’s Ground Plants — 2.1.2020
Since the early 90s, the city of Bangalore has developed into the “Silicon Valley of Asia”, populated with dozens of IT parks. Buildings clad with grey rectangles (aluminium composite panels, used for insulation and improvement of appearance) now cover the city, in a signature style of technological progress.
IT Sculpture I
IT Sculpture II
Yes My Wish — Yesmywish.com is an Indian e-puja website that promises to “grant any wish you desire” within 180 days, with a money back guarantee.
I purchased “I wish to be famous” from their website.
Excerpt from two hour religious ceremony that took place over Skype, between myself and a Hindu priest in the “Yes My Wish studio”
I purchased “I wish to be famous” from their website.
Excerpt from two hour religious ceremony that took place over Skype, between myself and a Hindu priest in the “Yes My Wish studio”