un-frieden. sabotage von wirklichkeiten
kunstforum Band 136, Februar – Mai 1997, Seite 363, AUSSTELLUNGEN HAMBURG Jens Rönnau un-frieden. sabotage von wirklichkeiten Kunstverein und Kunsthaus in Hamburg, 30.11.1996 - 19.1.1997 540 Künstler aus 31 Ländern der Welt waren 1996 dem Aufruf gefolgt, Konzepte zum Thema "un-frieden. sabotage von wirklichkeiten" einzureichen. Per weltweitem Internet hatten die Ausstellungskuratorinnen Ute Vorkoeper und Inke Arns für eine Beteiligung an diesem Projekt geworben, das im Rahmen der Hamburger Woche der Bildenden Kunst 1996 präsentiert wurde. Nur 34 Projekte davon wählte die Jury für jene Schau in den Räumen von Kunstverein und Kunsthaus Hamburg. Allerdings waren fast alle anderen eingereichten Konzepte den Ausstellungsbesuchern ebenfalls zugänglich: 26 in einem speziellen Konzeptraum, die übrigen in einem Archiv - "ein Ort für Entdeckungen und Vernetzungen", so die Ausstellungsmacherinnen.
Research department
1997 Website « www.irational.org/tttp/TTTP/estadisticas/appreciate.html UFO.html Beverages.html password.html Radio.html tv.html women1.html Presented as large-format wallpaper installation » The Research Department of Technologies To The People devotes itself to statistically recording and presenting core areas of contemporary life. In regard to levels of technology ownership in the USA, the department tells us that 77.3 % of the population possesses a microwave, but only (only?) 55 % a supermarket price scanner. Another statistic reveals that Washington and California are the federal states in which UFOs are most frequently spotted (New York trails far behind at the other end of the scale). We are also given percentages for the distribution of religions over the continents, beverage consumption in selected countries, the frequency with which types of passwords are cracked, the primary online activities of women, and the distribution of employment in the USA (with data supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U. S. Department of Labor). In the exhibition the statistics are presented as large-format printouts covering the walls of the room dedicated to irational’s Collecting data all over the net project. The collection of all kinds of data (via surveys, for instance, or loyalty cards) combined with the personalization facilitated by increasing linkage with databases has now become
Preliminary Basic Application
1997 Online application form « www.irational.org/tttp/TTTP/TTTP.html Presented as online website Daniel G. Andújar’s company Technologies To The People (TTTP) invites interested parties to submit an application to the grants programme of the fictitious Technologies To The People Foundation. A click on the hyperlink takes potential applications to the Preliminary Basic Application, a serious-looking questionnaire which reveals the subtle mechanisms used to collect marketing-relevant data. A notice advises that a fee is payable — by credit card only — prior to submitting an application, and requests for sensitive information are underscored by ironic notices flickering across the screen: »We would appreciate! Strictly confidential!« The form asks for the applicant’s social insurance number and credit card details as well as financially useful data (age group, gender, marital status, occupation), and rounds off the profile by asking for details of religion and race. (Darija Simunovic)
Awards and Acknowledgements
1997 Online display of awards for the TTTP website www.irational.org/tttp/Awards/awards.html Presented in the exhibition with framed printouts of the logos A long list of awards conceivably and inconceivably bestowed on the Technologies To The People website which, as its makers would have us believe, is »one of the most popular art sites on the internet «. Framed in silver like a collection of especially valuable postage stamps, the some 30 distinctions presented in the original thumbnail format include »Browser Watch — Net Fame!«, »An Internet cool site of the day«, »Magellan Star Site«, »Prescribed by Dr. Webster’s Web Site of the Day«, »Art Dirt« — »Your Webscout Way Cool Site«, and »Orchid Award for Page Excellence«. (Inke Arns)