random access memory

adrien cater + peter chylewski

random access memory is a system which displays images made by the public at large with digital cameras.

This is accomplished by creating an automatic system which searches (using images.google.com) for randomly generated arbitrary serial numbers rather than sending a query for a specific word (file names rather than image titles). This generates a list of jpeg files which can be considered a statistically random sample of photographs found on the internet.

The images are downloaded ‘live’ and displayed as an infinite ‘slide-show’.

No image is ever shown twice.

The installation consists of a computer and a video projector.

vernacular photography, and the appropriation thereof

Searching for serial numbers rather than words, beyond simply yielding a heterogeneous result, implies a rejection of known meaning and the unavoidable bias of an editor or curator.

This project differs fundamentally from previous work with appropriation of vernacular photography in that there is no rational or aesthetic selection made, the images are chosen purely at random, and from an extremely, unimaginably, large and varied source.

In working with vernacular or other appropriations of photography, the role of the ‘communicator’ shifts from the original photographer to the editor or curator, who selects amongst existing images rather than ‘in the world’ to construct a message.

ram, however, has no editor – only spectators.

more questions than answers

The viewer of the slide-show is confronted with many unanswered questions: Who took this image? And more importantly, why? Just what does this image represent? What would compel the photographer to take this picture? What is the interest of putting this image on the internet for others to see?

The images in ram are shown on screen for approximately 5 seconds (depending on the context), which is enough time to parse most images and appreciate a few details, but not enough time to form any definitive hypothesis as to it’s origins and the intentions of the photographer. This rhythm, and it’s subsequent mystery, are a key to holding the viewer’s interest.

other people’s pictures

All of the images shown in ram are public in the sense that they have been made accessible on the internet for google to index and for ram to download. The original photographers have not specifically prevented google indexing their web pages and the images are available for anyone to download, though whether they specifically intended public viewing is not known.

Although no invasive procedures are used to acquire the images, it cannot be assumed that the images are ‘for us to see’ – the sheer size of the internet makes any single image so statistically insignificant as to be nearly anonymous, and so anything can be ‘hidden in plain sight’.

Though google (and by extension ram) knows no boundaries of etiquette, an image’s appearance in ram does not intrude on the ‘private’ lives of the original photographer – the image is once again camouflaged in a context of an effectively infinite number of images of similar stature – negating the obvious assumption of a voyeuristic nature in our consumption of these images.

Rather, it is the question of the intended audience which is central. The ‘infinite’ nature of the internet fosters communication between peers with a special shared interest, and looking at the images presented in ram is quite like walking in on, say, a veterinary opthamology conference – though we have few tools to understand the discussion at hand, the images are quite fascinating.

In fact, it is quite probable that the spectator of ram is not the (assumed) intended audience for any image they might glimpse. Images of vacations are assumed to be intended for friends and family, images of people at conferences for those who were (or should have been) there, images of model trains are for model train enthusiasts.

Removed from any context which could provide real meaning to the image, all images are ‘not for us to see’.

disconnection

Removed from meaningful context, a photo of a model train could be the latest creation of an enthusiast, could be for sale on eBay, could be a reconstruction of a scene in a Hitchcock film, or could be an image created by a professional photographer/artist shown in a gallery in London – or any combination thereof. We do not know.

This puts the entire question of meaning in the minds and fantasy of the spectator, who are left for themselves to construct an explanation of the origin and significance of an image, as well as the construction of a narrative between consecutive images.

the internet is big

Google has (as of today) 880,000,000 images in it’s database – this works out to approximately 139 years of images shown as a non-stop slide-show.

The infinite nature of ram is an important part of the viewing experience – while we know we are free to go at any time because we will never see ‘the whole thing’, we are compelled to stay and see another (or just one more...) image.

This mirrors the always connected, never concentrated, nature of the internet, call it Attention Deficit Disorder Art.

distraction

As our eye is neurologically compelled to focus it’s attention on motion in the peripheral vision, ram has much the same effect as a TV in a bar or café – no matter how uninteresting the program, we cannot not glance at the screen, much to the chagrin of the person sitting with their face to us and their back to the TV.

ram functions best in a social space, where it can oblige indirect attention – in this sense it is a work, unlike others, best appreciated at a vernissage. Rather than the viewer’s attention being distracted away from the images, they are distracted to the images.

process + technical specifications

• Digital still photography cameras record images (jpeg files) with file names consisting of an arbitrary serial number, e.g. “img_1234.jpg”.
• These images are published on the internet in web pages, image galleries, photo sharing sites, etc.
• Google indexes these images in it’s database.

ram is an automated system which operates in 5 steps:

• create a random number (say, 1234)
• add the appropriate prefix (“img_”) and suffix (“.jpg”)
• send this file name as a query to google
• parse the resulting pages to produce a list of urls where the original images can be found
• download and display the images
  

The installation consists of:

• a small computer, running the ram program connected to the internet(if an internet connection is not available for a ‘live’ display, enough images are downloaded before the show for a continuous non-repeating display for the duration of the exhibition)
• a video projector and screen/wall (or other large display)
  

Images are shown for approximately 5 seconds, depending on the context. Ideally, ram should be shown in a social space, such as a museum café or ‘lounge’ area.

Multiple (non-identical) projections are also possible, but the screens should be separated and no two screens visible from the same point of view.

ram also takes the form of a screen-saver module to be run on a home or office computer.

http://images.google.com/images?q=img_0001.jpg

precedents + influences

A Million Random Digits
the rand corporation
1955
http://www.rand.org/publications/classics/randomdigits/

Evidence
Larry Sultan, Mike Mandel
1977

Useful Photography #2
Edited by Hans Aarsman, Claudie de Cleen, Julian Germain, Erik Kessels, Hans van der Meer
2002
http://www.artbook.com/9075380461.html

Manuel de la Photo Raté
Thomas Lélu
2002

Boring Postcards
Martin Parr
1999

Gerhard Richter
Atlas
1964 –

other references & precedents

Random Personal Picture Finder

Fi**Pi** (no link available)