this is really cool. you can interactively build creatures from
body parts plundered from mass media. note, after awhile it made my
browser crash, so the suggestion to save frequently is a good one.
smh
---------- Forwarded message ----------
CONTACT: Mark Napier
napierATinterport.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
NEW WEAPON FOR MEME WARFARE OPENS ONLINE
http://www.potatoland.org/cbots
New York, NY, February 14, 2000 -- ©Bots, a new online project from
Potatoland.org, takes a playful and irreverent look at the impact of
corporate copyrighted images in our lives. Part artwork and part
conspiracy theory, the website seeks to raise public awareness of the power
of corporate controlled pop-culture images. Using an eclectic mix of meme
theory and a touch of robotics, the site invites visitors to build their
own pop-culture icons from a database of 'components', then spread their
icons into the collective meme-pool through the web.
©Bots (pronounced see-bots) describes corporate ad and marketing schemes as
an attempt to colonize consumers minds through the use of endearing,
seductive memes. To lift a quote from the site: "Memes, memorable
fragments of pop-culture imagery, bombard us every day through ads, logos,
packaging, in TV, film, magazines, and billboards. These images persist in
our minds, we are their hosts. They influence our behavior, and may direct
our decisions, yet we do not own them and have no say in their design".
These aggressive memes are designed to stay in our memories, so that we
identify with the products they represent. The site describes the "Lemming
Effect", in which corporate memes, entrenched in the subconscious mind,
direct hapless consumers to purchase useless and overpriced products.
As part of a memetic awareness therapy, visitors to ©Bots use a collaging
tool to assemble their own pop-culture icons. Drawing on a database of
images derived from pop-culture, as well as anonymous human and animal body
parts, the resulting collages of eyes, ears, hair, arms (the list goes on)
are eerily familiar, yet shockingly odd.
©Bots is a production of Potatoland.org, conceived and programmed by Mark
Napier, with information architecture and interface design by Yael Kanarek.
Mark Napier's has questioned authority and ownership of images through
projects like the Shredder, RIOT, and Digital Landfill. An earlier project
titled "The Distorted Barbie", drew legal fire from Mattel for its
irreverent critique of the doll. Yael Kanarek is a cross media artist and
a senior web designer. She is an artist-in-residence at Eyebeam Atelier and
currently working on the upgrade of her cross-media project "World of Awe"
hosted by RSUB-The Razorfish Subnetwork.
Visit ©Bots on the web at http://www.potatoland.org/cbots. The site is
accessible through any 4.X web browser and requires no plug-ins. Contact
Mark Napier at napierATinterport.net.
# # #
===================================
Shred the Web!
http://potatoland.org/shredder
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