Human Browser is a series of wireless Internet performances
based on a Wi-Fi Google hack
Thanks to its headset, the actor hears a text-to-speech audio
that comes directly from the Internet in real-time. The actor
repeats the text as he hears it. The textual flow is actually
fetched by a program (set up on a Wi-Fi laptop) that hijacks
Google, diverting it from its utilitarian functions. Depending on
the context in which the actor is, keywords are sent to the
program and used as search strings in Google (thanks to a Wi-Fi
PDA) so that the content of the textual flow is always related to
the context.
As the world-system reaches its limitations (depletion
of natural resources, expected end of low-cost labour, the end of
the ideology of liberalism, the fading of desire, etc.), capitalism
uses the irony of history to try to relaunch its paradoxical
machinery by pushing back its internal limits: freedom of speech is
revealed to be the prerequisite for the scientific colonization of
intimacy; global terrorism and reality TV feed a spectacle regulated
by the panoptical enslavement mechanism of the blogosphere;
"Irational Behaviour" that was for long seen as the limit of any
economical theory becomes the new field for the externalisation of
advertising costs.
Internet, with the advent of global symbolic networked structures
of the web 2.0 like Google, has thus become an unrivalled tool for
surveillance and control. Its economic dynamics relies on trend
analysis and prediction of what you think at any time so as to be
able to sell you what will fulfil you: statistically analyzing
your least thoughts, acts and desires - not as individuals but as
postmodern statistical sets - so as to predict your "Irational
Behaviour". In this pact you exchange a promise of happiness
against a narrowing of your intimacy. You become predictable,
transparent, commonplace even in your wildest dreams...
Human Browser, the perpetual dandy, embodies this
"Irational Behaviour".
It is based on my former piece Epiphanies
(2001), one of the first Google Hacks, inspired by J. Joyce.
Session
17 - Human Browser at HMKV, Dortmund - from 22th March
2013 to 28th June 2013
Human Browser performance
at HMKV, Dortmund.
Exhibited at HMKV, Dortmund: HIS MASTER'S VOICE: On Voice and
Language. Opening Friday 22 March 2013, 7 pm.
With Christophe Bruno (FR), Erik Bünger (SE), William S.
Burroughs & Anthony Balch (US), Aslı Çavuşoğlu (TR),
YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES (KR), Dortmunder
Sprechchor (DE), Jakup Ferri (KOS), Jochen Gerz (DE),
Richard Grayson (UK), Asta Gröting (DE), Daniel Hofer
(DE), Anette Hoffmann / Andrea Bellu / Matei Bellu /
Regina Sarreiter (DE), International Institute of
Political Murder (CH), Ignas Krunglevicius (LT/NO), Bruce
Nauman (US), Stefan Panhans (DE), Julius Popp (DE), Laure
Prouvost (FR/UK), Kathrin Resetarits (AT), Peter Rose
(US), Manuel Saiz (ES), Anri Sala (AL), Richard Serra with
Nancy Holt (US), Katarina Zdjelar (SR/NL), Artur Zmijewski
(PL) and others. Curated by Inke Arns.
Session
16 - Human Browser at NIMK, Amsterdam - May 29, 2010
May 29, 2010: Human Browser performance
at NIMk(Netherlands Media Art
Institute), Amsterdam, in Dutch & English with actress
Lieke Jetten.
Performmikka Internettikka is an evening with
internet/teleperformances by Annie Abrahams, Christophe
Bruno, Constant Dullaart, Robin Nicolas and Igor Stromajer
& Brane Zorman, focused on the relations between
contemporary performance practice and the internet.
Curated by Petra Heck.
Session
15 - Marathon Human Browser at Instants Chavirés,
Montreuil - May. 15, 2010
May. 15, 2010: performance of Human Browser with Jérôme
Piques Instants Chavirés, Montreuil, - "Take Shape - Make Shift" an
exhibition by Charlie Jeffery.
Session
14 - Human Browser at SMAK/Vooruit, Ghent - Apr. 3,
2010
April 3 to June 13, 2010: Human Browser is presented at
S.M.A.K. (Museum of Contemporary Art of Ghent) in the
exhibition Electrified 02 - Hacking public space curated by
Eva DeGroote and Thibaut Verhoeven. Artists exhibited are
Ben Benaouisse, Carlos Rodriguez-Méndez, Amilcar Packer,
Simona Denicolai & Ivo Provoost, Dogma00, Javier Núñez
Gasco, Roberta Gigante, Messieurs Delmotte, Wilfredo
Prieto, Miet Warlop, Helmut Smits, Christophe Bruno,
Pierre-Laurent Cassière.
For the opening, Human Browser was performed in English,
French and Flemish by Ariane Loze. Watch the video (sequence 6).
Session
13 - Talk with Human Browser at Ars Longa, Paris -
Mar. 13, 2010
March 13th, 2010, from 17h00: I gave a talk with writer
Christian Salmon (Storytelling, La Découverte, 2007,
Kate Moss Machine, La Découverte, 2010 ?), at galerie Ars
Longa. The talk was held together with a performance
of my project Human Browser (with Jérôme Piques) who made
people visit the exhibition "Les paradoxes du petit monde"
together with curator Judith Lavagna.
Session
12 - Human Browser at the Boutique d'Ecriture, in
Toulouse - Jan. 28, 2010
Jan. 28, 2010, Sonde 01#10, La Chartreuse. Human
Browser performance at the Boutique d?Ecriture du Grand
Toulouse, by three different actors: Raphaëlle Bouvier,
Maxime Potard and Annabelle Verhaeghe. I also gave a talk.
Videos are available on Selfworld.
Session
11 - Human Browser in Avignon - Apr. 25, 2009
Apr. 25, 2009: performance of Human Browser with Sabine
Revillet at the Sonde ?04#09 - as you like it - les
écritures du web -?. La
Chartreuse, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon.
Session
10 - Human Browser in Toulouse - Apr. 23, 2009
Apr. 23, 2009: Louise Boudevin is the Human Browser, at
the festival Empreintes
Numériques, Toulouse.
photography by Claude Fournié
Session
9 - Human Browser at the Biennale of Sydney 2008
June 18 to Sept. 7, 2008: Human Browser has been selected
by this year?s Artistic Director Carolyn
Christov-Bakargiev, chief curator of Castello di Rivoli,
to participate to revolutions online one of the venues
of the Biennale
of Sydney 2008.
?The 2008 Biennale of Sydney is presented at some of
Sydney?s finest harbourside sites and visitors can take
the Biennale ArtWalk from venue to venue along the water?s
edge. For the first time the exhibition will utilise the
astonishing former prison and shipyard, Cockatoo Island.
For the fifth time Sydney?s only remaining undeveloped
historical wharf - Pier 2/3 in Walsh Bay - will feature as
a venue.
Sydney?s leading arts institutions, the Museum of
Contemporary Art, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and
Artspace will again be dedicated to the country?s foremost
international art event. Specific events and artworks will
be presented at the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Sydney
Opera House, plus in 2008, we are thrilled to present the
first Online Venue for a biennale worldwide.?
Session
8 - Human Browser wins the Share Festival, Torino -
Jan 23-28, 2007
The festival was curated by Simona Lodi, Chiara
Garibaldi, Manuela De Caro, Luca Barbeni, at the Accademia
Albertina di Belli Arti in Torino. Human Browser was
performed in Italian by Alessandra Lappano assisted by
Simone Sandretti. With the support of the Centre Culturel
Français de Turin.
Session
6 - Human Browser at the Abbaye de Noirlac - Sept 23,
2006
The futurs of writing
Sept. 23, 2006: performance of Human Browser, aka
Jérôme Piques, at the festival "Les futurs de l'écrit"
("The Futurs of Writing"), Abbaye de Noirlac. Ecriture et lecture : nouvelles formes,
curated by Emmanual Cyriaque, David-Olivier Lartigaud et
al., Editions Hyx.
Exhibited artists: Dan Graham, Pierre Bismuth, Yves
Duranthon, Mongrel, ASCII Art Ensemble, Christophe Bruno,
Martin Le Chevallier, Mark Napier, Peter Cho, Ben Fry,
Young Hae Chang, Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau,
Hansol Huh, Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern, Quantic
Dream, Margarete Jahrmann and Max Moswitzer, Machinima
selection.
Session
5 - Sydney Esquisse Festival, Sydney - Aug 5-20, 2006
Human Browser in Sydney, remote controlled from Paris
From August 5 to August 20, 2006, Human Browser is
performing at the Sydney Esquisse Art and Design
Festival, curated by Simon Horauf & al. The idea was
to direct the performance from Paris with a remote live
video link and I had to rework the code a little bit to
have the whole installation set up. On the picture you can
see the actress, Beccy Iland, with a webcam on her
shoulder and Wi-Fi laptop in her backpack (a nice idea by
Simon which allowed to simplify everything). Thanks to the
live video link between Sydney and Paris, I can see and
hear what Beccy sees and hears in Sydney. I input keywords
on my computer in Paris and the text-to-speech audio flow
hijacked from Google arrives in Beccy's headset.
Session
4 - Festival Transmediale, Berlin - Feb 2-5, 2006
Human Browser in Berlin
Feb. 2, 2006: Manon Kahle has become the first Female
Browser. During four days, the visitors of the Transmediale festival in Berlin have
fallen beneath her spell.
You can also watch here
the "guided tour" of the exhibition by Human Browser.
Videocamera: Valérie Pavia / Florence Pélissier
The video was broadcast on the website
of the french newspaper Libération.
Session
3 - Opening at galerie Sollertis, Toulouse - Jan 10,
2006
Human Browser in Toulouse
Jan. 10, 2006, Human Browser, aka Jérôme Piques,
tried to start up a conversation with the visitors of
galerie Sollertis
in Toulouse, during the opening of my solo exhibition.
Session
2 - IVème Nuit Blanche de Paris, Mairie du IVème - Oct
1st, 2005
La nouvelle Pythie
La Pythie de Delphes : son
nom vient du Python monstrueux qui habitait un trou, la
béance de Gaïa, la mère Terre, sur les lieux de la future
Delphes. C'est là que la Pythie proférait ses oracles, en
des termes incompréhensibles que seuls les prêtres du
sanctuaire pouvaient interpréter. Au moment de parler, la
Pythie tombait en transes et entrait en contact avec
Apollon, le Dieu vainqueur du serpent. Les grecs disaient
qu'elle était en état d'enthousiasme : habitée par le dieu.
" Jadis des chèvres, dit-on, découvrirent l'oracle ...
Il y avait un trou dans le sol ... et les chèvres
paissaient à l'entour ... Chaque fois qu'une bête
s'approchait du trou et se penchait vers l'intérieur, elle
se mettait à bondir de façon bizarre et faisait entendre
des bêlements anormaux. Un berger, surpris de ce
phénomène, s'approcha du trou et ressentit les mêmes
symptômes que les chèvres : celles-ci se comportaient
comme des possédés ; l'homme, lui, prédisait l'avenir.
Quiconque approchait du trou entrait en état de transes.
Ce fut la raison pour laquelle l'oracle fut considéré
comme le sanctuaire prophétique de la Terre ... Comme
nombre de gens sautaient dans le trou et, en raison de
leur état de possession y disparaissaient, les habitants
... nommèrent une femme, seule prophétesse pour tous. Ils
lui fabriquèrent un appareil du haut duquel elle pût en
toute sécurité entrer en transes ... L'appareil avait
trois points d'appui et c'est pourquoi on l'appela trépied
...
A l'époque ancienne les oracles étaient rendus par
des vierges parce qu'elles étaient physiquement intactes
et de la même nature qu'Artémis : c'était une
disposition favorable pour garder le secret. "
Diodore de Sicile, XVI,26, Ier siècle av. J.-C.
Video bientôt disponible
Session
1 - Paris - May 29, 2005
EU constitution vote : Human Browser offers to help France
The video was broadcast on the website of
the French newspaper Le Monde, the day after the elections.
Session
0 - IIIème Nuit Blanche de Paris, Mairie du IVème -
Oct 2, 2004
Some time of available human brain
An Internet installation for television channel and computer
assisted actor.
The premiere of the performance "Some time of available
human brain" took place on Oct 2, 2004, at the third "Nuit
Blanche de Paris" at the Mairie du IVème arrondissement
(curated by Metazone)
which welcomed more than 11 000 people. Ten representations
were given this night, each one lasting between ten and
fifteen minutes. ... more
Info