The internet is for surfing, not printing. 
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NET ART
ANTHOLOGY

Image Atlas

Taryn Simon with Aaron Swartz

2012 - ongoing

Image Atlas investigates differences and similarities across local image search engine results in countries throughout the world. It serves as an interface that mediates between the user and online information sources, thereby highlighting the contingent nature of these platforms and their power to shape knowledge and visual culture.

The work was originally created by programmer and activist Aaron Swartz and artist Taryn Simon as a part of the 2012 edition of Rhizome’s Seven on Seven conference, which pairs artists with technologists for free-form collaboration. Since Swartz’s death in 2013, Simon has continued to develop the work, expanding it to include all 195 countries recognized by the UN.

“Masterpiece,” 11/16/18, 4:04 PM (Eastern Standard Time). Image Atlas, 2012. Website view, dimensions variable. View an archive of this search.

Visit Image Atlas on the live web

Watch Simon and Swartz premiere Image Atlas at Seven on Seven 2012.

Visitors enter search terms into the Image Atlas search engine, and the site yields results in the form of rows of thumbnail images against a black background, each labeled with its country of origin and the local translation of a given search term.

Image Atlas reveals startling differences in image results, which speak to the contingent relationship between language and image.

“We tried to give the hidden space between cultures a visual route in a simple and easy-to-use form, and to highlight the complexities surrounding the possibility of a visual language.” - Taryn Simon

“Freedom Fighter,” 11/16/18, 11:57 AM (Eastern Standard Time). Image Atlas, 2012. Website view, dimensions variable. View an archive of this search.

These differences can be ascribed to cultural and regional specificity or vagaries of translation and vernacular (in France, “bomb” yields images of “bombe glacée,” a baked dessert).

They may also relate to the affordances of particular platforms. How are results affected by censorship? How are they affected by search engines’ ranking algorithms, and by brands’ efforts to “win” particular search terms?

Image Atlas reveals statistical image data to be culturally embedded and politically contested, and interrogates the possibility of a universal visual language.

“Material,” 11/16/18, 8:20 AM (Eastern Standard Time). Image Atlas, 2012. Website view, dimensions variable.

More From CHAPTER 4: 2011-2016

08/24/18 Untitled/Clefa Devin Kenny 2013
08/31/18 Image Objects Artie Vierkant 2011 - ongoing
09/14/18 Ethira Amalia Ulman 2013
11/16/18 Contra-Internet Inversion Practice #1: Constituting an Outside (Utopian Plagiarism) Zach Blas 2015
11/30/18 I'm Here and There Jonas Lund 2011
02/14/19 Sister Unn’s Bunny Rogers & Filip Olszewski 2011 - 2012
02/05/19 Youth Mode: A Report on Freedom K-hole & Box 1824 2013
02/08/19 Consciousness Engine 2: absentfatherbot Bogosi Sekhukhuni 2013
02/19/19 Material Speculation: Isis Morehshin Allahyari 2015 - 2016
02/21/19 Death Imitates Language Harm van den Dorpel 2016 - ongoing
03/12/19 I’m that angel Tyler Coburn 2011 - ongoing
03/21/19 /INB4/ Liz Mputu & /inb4/ 2014 - ongoing
03/21/19 #PAYBLACKTiME RaFia Santana 2016 - ongoing
05/10/19 Psycho Nymph Exile Porpentine Charity Heartscape 2016 - 2017
05/17/19 Mexiconceptual H̶E̶R̶I̶B̶E̶R̶T̶O̶ Y̶é̶p̶e̶z̶ (Satélite) 2016
06/30/19 Daily Times (Performer) Siebren Versteeg 2012
06/30/19 AGNES Cécile B. Evans 2013 - 2014
06/04/19 DIS Images DIS (LAUREN BOYLE, SOLOMON CHASE, MARCO ROSO, DAVID TORO, AND COLLABORATORS) 2013
06/30/19 The Game: The Game Angela Washko 2016 - 2019

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