A human being embodies the World Wide Web
A project by Christophe Bruno (2004 - ongoing)
Human Browser is a series of wireless Internet performances based on a Google hack, where the usual technological interface is replaced with the oldest interface we know: the human being. It is a distant ancestor of ChatGPT — politically and aesthetically incorrect — operating at an extremely high LLM temperature.
Wearing a headset, the performer hears a real-time text-to-speech audio stream generated from Google search results. They repeat the text as they hear it, transforming into a ‘human browser’ in a dynamic, context-driven performance. Keywords, derived from the surrounding context, are sent to the program as search queries, ensuring that the textual flow remains tied to the environment. Yet, it also reflects the unpredictability of the algorithmic abyss: unlike ChatGPT, which prioritizes probable responses, 'Human Browser' dives deep into Google's database, retrieving results that are often obscure, tangential, inappropriate or chaotic.
2004 Human Browser statement: 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; "Irrational Behaviour" that was for long seen as the limit of any economic 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 fulfill you: statistically analyzing your least thoughts, acts, and desires - not as individuals but as postmodern statistical sets - so as to predict your "Irrational 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 "Irrational Behaviour".
Performances
Session 23: Next performance @ZKM Karlsruhe, Friday, January 31, 2025
Friday, January 31, 2025: next performance @ZKM Karlsruhe, Choose your Filter!, curated by Inge Hinterwaldner, Daniela Hönigsberg, Laura C. Schmidt. Actor Jens Amschlinger will perform the Human Browser.
Session 22: Back to Transmediale, Berlin, March 2017
Human Browser is back to Transmediale, Berlin, performed by Manon Kahle.
Session 21: Buffalo Art Center, NY, November 2016
Human Browser at "The Purple State", curated by Franck Bauchard, Buffalo Art Center, NY.
Tels des sismographes, les œuvres de l'artiste français Christophe Bruno mesurent, en temps réel, la soirée des élections en invitant le Web dans le grand hall en « White Rectangle » du centre d'art. La jeune actrice Emily incarne ce soir le « Navigateur Humain » (The Human Browser), double en chair et en os du robot Google dont la comédienne, armée d'un casque, interprète les messages ; balayant le champ sémantique de ces élections dans le moteur de recherche, l'artiste, non loin, envoie des messages jaillissant de mots clefs à l'actrice, qui les traduit. Rapidement, Emily entame des dialogues absurdes, provocateurs, drôles, avec les spectateurs qui se prêtent volontiers au jeu, éminemment politique. Trump commence à se détacher sur NBC Television. Il est 20h50. Sur les 3 grands écrans de Fascinum, qui mettent en saillie, par l'image, les sujets de fascination de l'humanité en temps réel sur les portails d'information Google et Yahoo de 7 pays (États-Unis, France, Allemagne, Italie, Espagne, Grande-Bretagne, Inde), Trump apparaît encore timidement. Si l'émoi commence à être fort sensible parmi les convives de l'exposition (qui pour beaucoup avait totalement exclu une victoire républicaine), le monde, pour l'heure, ne semble pas s'en préoccuper plus que cela. Le lendemain, le visage de l'homme d'affaire sera un peu plus présent sur la mosaïque de Fascinum, mais à l'évidence, le sujet « Trump président des États-Unis » ne « fascine » pas massivement, bien que ce résultat sera vite perçu comme une « onde de choc », une « élection surprise », « un séisme politique mondial, qui ouvre une période d'incertitude. », Chrystelle Desbordes
Session 20: La Panacée, Montpellier, June 2015
Performance at La Panacée, Montpellier, "His Master's Voice", curated by Inke Arns. With Christophe Bruno, Erik Bünger, William Burroughs & Antony Balch, Aslı Cavu şoğlu, YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES (YHCHI), Jakup Ferri, Jochen Gerz, Richard Grayson, Asta Gröting, Daniel Hofer, Anette Hoffmann / Matei Bellu / Andrea Bellu / Regina Sarreiter, International Institute of Political Murder, Ignas Krunglevicius, Stefan Panhans, Laure Prouvost, Kathrin Resetarits, Peter Rose, Manuel Saiz, Anri Sala, Richard Serra & Nancy Holt.
Session 19: Festival Jean Legendre, Espace Jean Legendre, Théâtre de Compiègne, April 2014
Human Browser performance at Théâtre de Compiègne.
Session 18: HMKV, Dortmund - March 22, 2013 to June 28, 2013
Human Browser performance at HMKV, Dortmund. Exhibited in the "His Master's Voice" exhibition, with works from various international artists: Christophe Bruno, Erik Bünger, William Burroughs & Antony Balch, Aslı Cavu şoğlu, YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES (YHCHI), Jakup Ferri, Jochen Gerz, Richard Grayson, Asta Gröting, Daniel Hofer, Anette Hoffmann / Matei Bellu / Andrea Bellu / Regina Sarreiter, International Institute of Political Murder, Ignas Krunglevicius, Stefan Panhans, Laure Prouvost, Kathrin Resetarits, Peter Rose, Manuel Saiz, Anri Sala, Richard Serra & Nancy Holt. Curated by Inke Arns.
Session 17: 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 16: Marathon Human Browser at Instants Chavirés, Montreuil - May 15, 2010
Performance during the "Take Shape - Make Shift" exhibition by Charlie Jeffery, featuring Jérôme Piques as Human Browser.
Session 15: SMAK/Vooruit, Ghent - April 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.
Session 14: Talk with Human Browser at Ars Longa, Paris - March 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 etc.), 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 13: Boutique d’Ecriture, Toulouse - January 28, 2010
Human Browser performance at the Boutique d'Ecriture du Grand Toulouse, by three different actors: Raphaëlle Bouvier, Maxime Potard and Annabelle Verhaeghe.
Session 12: Human Browser in Avignon - April 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 11: Human Browser in Toulouse - April 23, 2009
Louise Boudevin portrayed the Human Browser at the Empreintes Numériques festival.
Session 10: 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.
Session 9: Human Browser wins the Share Festival - January 23-28, 2007
Jan. 23 - 28, 2007: Human Browser wins the Share Festival. The jury was:
Carolyn Christov Bakargiev, chief curator Castello di Rivoli
Joasia Krysa, curator & senior lecturer University of Plymouth
Alex Adriaansen, director V2 di Rotterdam
Vicente Matallana, director La Agencia di Madrid
Gerfried Stocker, director Ars Electronica Festival di Linz
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.
In case you wonder, the background sound in the video comes from a great installation by Gregory Shakar: The Analog Color Field Computer that was also nominated for the prize. Amazon-noir by Ubermorgen, Paolo Cirio and Alessandro Ludovico got the Honorary Mention. The other nominees were: Sensity - The Emergent City (Stanza), Shockbot Corejulio (5voltcore) and the Mikro Orchestra Project.
Session 8: Human Browser at FutureFilmFestival, Bologna - January 19, 2007
Performance of Human Browser, interpreted in Italian by Simona Sagone, at the Future Web Festival 2007, curated by Luca Vaglio, FutureFilmFestival at Palazzo ReEnzo, Bologna.
Session 7: Abbaye de Noirlac - September 23, 2006
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 6: Sydney Esquisse Festival - August 5-20, 2006
Remote-controlled performance from Paris, featuring Beccy Iland with live-streaming capabilities in Sydney.
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 5: Festival Transmediale, Berlin - February 2-5, 2006
Manon Kahle debuted as the first female Human Browser, captivating audiences at the renowned festival.
Session 4: Galerie Sollertis, Toulouse - January 10, 2006
Human Browser, aka Jérôme Piques, tried to start up conversations with the visitors of galerie Sollertis in Toulouse, during the opening of my solo exhibition.
Session 3: Nuit Blanche, Paris - October 1, 2005
The Human Browser, drawing parallels to the Oracle of Delphi, tried to predict people's future.
Session 2: EU constitution vote : Human Browser offers to help France, Paris - May 29, 2005
The Human Browser intervened during the EU Constitution vote, blending performance and socio-political commentary. The video was broadcast on the website of the French newspaper Le Monde, the day after the elections.
Session 1: Nuit Blanche, Paris - October 2, 2004
The inaugural Human Browser performance, "Some time of available human brain", took place during the third Nuit Blanche at the Mairie du IVème, within the exhibition curated by Metazone which welcomed more than 11 000 people. Ten representations were given this night, each one lasting between ten and fifteen minutes. Jérôme Piques was the first Human Browser.
« There are many ways of talking about television. But in a business context, let's be realistic: basically, TF1's job is to help Coca-cola, for example, to sell its product (...). However, for an advertisement to be perceived, it is necessary that the brain of the spectator should be available. The role of our programs is to make it available: i.e. to entertain it, to relax it in order to prepare it between two messages. What we sell to Coca-cola is some time of available human brain (...).
Nothing is more difficult than obtaining this availability. There lies the permanent change. It is necessary to seek at all times the programs that will fit, to follow the latest fashions, to surf on the trends of the moment, in a context where information accelerates, multiplies and gets more pervasive ».
Patrick Le Lay, CEO of TF1 (French TV channel), July 2004
The principle of the installation is as follows: an actor (here, Jérôme Piques) lies on a psychoanalyst's couch, with a television which broadcasts a TV channel live (LCI here) behind his back. Behind the couch, I type in key words in relation with what the TV set shows. These key words are sent on a server (here the laptop down the couch). Thanks to a search Google, a program on this server allows us to extract the textual flood relating to the chosen key words in real-time from the Web. The text is then read by a voice synthetizer and sent to the headset of the actor who says it as soon as he hears it. The result is a two-voice performance: the voice of television, the spectacle provider, and the voice of the Web, where a fallacious freedom masks the success of the society of control, in a context I called "Taylorization of speech".
Credits
Concept & Realisation: Christophe Bruno
Actors: Jérôme Piques, Manon Kahle, Beccy Iland, Simona Sagone, Louise Boudevin, Raphaëlle Bouvier, Maxime Potard, Annabelle Verhaeghe, Alessandra Lappano, Ariane Loze, Lieke Jetten, Jens Amschlinger...