“Beauty in art” no doubt gives rise to an endless discussion that never reaches a crystallised definition, even less so in the context of data or information. But since the topic of the semester (Berlin UdK, 2008) at which this work originated was not about beauty as such, but about the interpretation of data in general, I began to search for “beauty” in the networks of networks − the Internet. I looked at how the widest audience today sees beauty in digital space. The beauty of feelings, ideas, curves of bodies. The global, anonymous and mass interest in pornography on the network led me to concentrate in my work on pleasure and beauty for one person. The object is connected to the busiest porno server in the world. It vibrates and lights up based on the rise or fall in the viewership of the most requested video sequences. The anonymous interest of the mass of users from the entire world is thus concentrated into an object for one. Roughly every several dozen seconds, the object gets new information and changes its activity. If the viewership increases briskly, then the vibrator pulses upwards (fades in) more than when the growth in viewing is slower. In the event of a decline in viewership, the object then pulses downwards (fades out), from slow to even slower intervals. When a small button at the end of the device is held down, the object is active according to the previous measurement, thus making it possible to compare the development of viewership. The vibrator is managed from the computer via Bluetooth wireless technology and is powered by a chargeable battery. It is made out of glass and stainless steel, run by a microprocessor and a remote computer that is connected to the Internet. Vibrator 2012 series upgrade done in cooperation with Tomislav Arnaudov.
VibratorProkop Bartoníček (CZ)
Installation, 2008 - 2012
Prokop Bartoníček (CZ)
Prokop Bartoníček was born in Prague January 1983. In 2003, before grammar school graduation, he won a place at VŠUP (Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design), sculpture studio, Prof. Beránek. In 2007-2008 he was a visiting student at the Experimental Design Studio of Prof. Joachim Sauter at UdK in Berlin. Presently, he lives and works in Berlin and Prague where he completed MA studies at VŠUP. He mainly develops interactive installations (Vibrator ‘08, You can’t hide it all!‘09) and experimental design projects (Urna ‘08, Worlds as fragments ‘10). As a former member of the guerilla artgroup Ztohoven he participated in the action Media Reality ‘07 (a hack into the morning show of Czech state TV, now part of the permanent collection of the National Gallery in Prague).