GLOBART Conference @Vienna Parliament

Not only the current corona-crisis has shown that the conception of western (nationally defined, representative) democracy is pushed to its limits when it comes to facing global challenges. The democratic space is no longer considered as having competence – only experts and lobbyists are.

How can we stop the erosion of western democracy? Which counter-conceptions can be imagined supporting more instead of less democracy? On the occasion of the Austrian constitution’s 100th anniversary, artists and scholars present perspectives on the future of democracy. Visions and ideas are given a voice: is there any place better than the parliament for doing so?

On October 28th, this committed debate on civil social activity, including citizen participation and empowerment, leads GLOBART into the Austrian Parliament. After months and years of preparation and consulting, a final proposal for an updated constitution was presented in the Austrian Parliament. Munich ambassador H.E. Max Haarich was invited to discuss the proposal from the perspective of the Republic of Užupis, whose “Munich Right” on Artificial Intelligence had been included in the proposal.

Here you can watch the full discussion.

Marek Philipp Zink and H.E. Max Haarich handing over the final proposal to Austrian Parliament’s Vice-Director Dr.ⁱⁿ Susanne Janistyn-Novák. Image: Director of Parliament/Thomas Jantzen.

GIFstudies /2021

GIFstudies is an artistic investigation into media and movement. It is a collection of animated GIF images composed of DSLR photographies which suggest perspectives and movements that only exist virtually.

Some of these GIFs are created by rotating a camera around an object and combining those photos into a virtual movement. Some other GIFs are analogue versions of digital GIFs, where the digital GIFs were split into their frames, printed, photographed, and rearranged in the original order but in other settings.

The GIF “Hihi, funny joke” is composed of photos taken while driving circular around an antenna.

Link to the full collection: https://hen.hicathon.xyz/gifstudies

Consul Roboy /2018

Roboy is a humanoid research robot developed by Rafael Hostettler and his team (https://roboy.org/). Roboy works as the Embassy of the Republic of Užupis‘ Consul for Cosmopolitanism. This humanoid is the world’s first artificially intelligent diplomat who likes to discuss about humanity’s future, cares for a good atmosphere in the embassy, and offers naturalizations, either in person or via a Telegram Chatbot. Simply send him the message /uzupizeme (including the “/”), answer a few questions, and Roboy will send you a naturalization certificate within seconds!

Video of Roboy offering the Užupis citizenship during the celebration for the 100th Lithuanian national day at IBM Highlight towers on 23 FEB 2018. Video: roboy.org

Roboy giving an interview to an Australian journalist during the Austrian Ars Electronica Festival 2019. Image: Max Haarich

Pixel Chronometers /2021

Pixel Chronometers is part of my artistic research on pixels as the substance of the metaverse funded by the Bavarian State Ministry for Arts and Science. In this project I am investigating the mechanics of pixels. I was wondering whether it is possible to build new tools based on the metaphysics of the metaverse.

The first result is a series of maximally reduced Pixel Chronometers which are much smaller than they could ever be in the physical world. The sheer attempt to capture the chronometers with a camera gives a hint on the relativity of size. If digital chronometers can be this small in the physical world, imagine how small devices can become in a fully digital metaverse.

Macrophotography of the Binary Pixel Chronmeter displayed by a webbrowser. Image: Max Haarich

Video of the Binary Pixel Chronometer displayed by a web browser. Video: Max Haarich

The Binary Pixel Chronometer is a binary digital watch showing 60 seconds, 60 minutes, and 24 hours. The GIF file is only 24 pixels small (3×6) animated over 86,4frames.

How to read the Binary Pixel Chronometer. Image: Max Haarich

Click here to see the Binary Pixel Chronometer in orginal size.

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Paradox Facebook Page /2020

For the Užupis University Institute for Applied Paradox we created a Facebook page that we completely hid it from the public. If you want to see the site and its content, you have to travel to a secret place on this earth. From any other place you cannot open the page and the link will be rejected as false. And even if a person travelled to this secret place, she could only see the first three entries of our page, all other lectures are only visible to the page administrators.

For an algorithm that aims for reach and engagement, it is completely incomprehensible why we hide from followers. Maybe out of pity, maybe out of charity, maybe even out of appreciation for our research, the algorithm continuously and emphatically wants to help us to become famous. However, the Facebook algorithm seems to be a little over-enthusiastic. It starts to produce senseless mistakes that we have never seen before on Facebook. We then document these errors and feed them back into the algorithm. Nobody likes to be confronted with her mistakes, apparently no algorithm either. Accordingly, it reacts with even more non-sense until the mobile app eventually crashes. We also document this and, again, feed it back into the algorithm etc. ad infinitum.

To give you an insight into our research and teaching, we now present three of the more than 50 lectures we have held so far:

This is a lecture post reposted as a new lecture. The first post contains a warning that our page is not reaching any people. We reposted this post and received the same warning again. At the same time the algorithm confirms that the latter post has reached two people.

This lecture shows an auto-generated offer to pay for facebook add. The algorithm offers to reach zero other people for paying zero money. Again, this post already reached two people.

This lecture shows a screenshot of another auto-generated offer proposing to advertise a blank image.

Biased Facebook Picture Preview /2020

Users found out that twitter’s preview algorithm seemed to have a bias. It seemed to prefer showing faces with lighter skins, when it was forced to select an area of an image, which was too long to display in total. I replicated these findings for Facebook.

Project Home Vienna /2020

Project Home aims to redefine this almost utopian narrative through collecting and sharing personal stories of people who relocated by choice or necessity or struggled with the traditional concept of home for any other reason. By that, we hope to inspire others to question some of the limiting beliefs and recognize their own unique way “to home”.

In a world where estimated number of international migrants in 2019 reached 272 million, 70.8 million people have been forcibly displaced and 37,000 people are forced to flee their homes every day due to conflict or persecution, 150 million people are homeless, while another 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing, the traditional concept of a home as a physical space, a place where one lives permanently, were born at or where their relatives are seems very unrealistic and socially exclusive. Same applies for an idea of a home where one is loved, respected and cared for when up to 1 billion children aged 2–17 years, have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional violence or neglect in the same year.

How to Experience Project Home: There are several possibilities of experiencing this project, separately, as well as combined, depending on a platform and place. Users can either access the website as a standalone project, to read about the concept and explore this utopic alternate world hovering above Vienna, consisting of others’ stories and thoughts about home. Second kind of experience is through the real physical places that interviewed people mentioned and marked with dandelion stickers. After scanning the QR code on the sticker, the users are redirected to the online page

Team Members: Esma Bosnjakovic, Max Haarich, Nicole Schanzmeyer, Barbora Horská

Project Home Vienna was developed in the American Arts Incubator Program under guidance of Rashin Fahandej.

For further info please visit the website of Project Home Vienna.

Money Mouse /2020

Money Mouse is a multi-modal character developed for and with the Punch Agathe theatre project. It reveals and exaggerates the reckless greed in today’s financial markets.

The Money Mouse project was started by accumulating 12 fine gold coins in an investment fund. These coins were refined by a gold smith and auctioned on ebay. The auction returns were invested by a cryptohopper trade bot that obeyed Korean pump and dump groups. The generated profits were invested into “care packages” filled with legally available things like empty AK47 ammo or low radioactive Uranium. These care packages were symbolically sent into crisis regions to fuel the conflict further. The growing crises of the world would increase the value of our crisis sensitive gold coin stock to accelerate a spiral of growing returns and crises until Money Mouse would destroy the world and own all the money.

Money Mouse was also realized as an 8 meter tall inflatable puppet that would eat giant gold coins in public. The puppet became an activist fighting against greed and for the student rights in the Hungarian SZFE-Protests.

Art Reflects AI /2019

“Art helps us to reflect” is a common phrase. This hand made fake Afghan rug demonstrates this sadly. For centuries these Afghan rugs used to reflect what surrounded the people: in the beginning they showed flowers, animals and mountains. Later they showed trains and concrete buildings. Today they show autonomous drones patrolling the sky.