grid-imagespam
A. Bill Miller
Grid: Image Spam (master-list2000.com)
Digital Animation
00:00:56, 2007
This video was created in conjunction with a net.art project,
master-list2000.com. Master List2000 is a project that uses image spam as a way to generate visual content and user interaction. It does so by addressing some of the issues surrounding image spam like the overload of advertising imagery that constantly clouds and pollutes our visual/mental environment by finding increasingly more invasive ways of reaching the viewer.
The site and animation were created from a database collection of image spam collected over a 2 month period. Image spam advertising techniques pollute our visual and mental landscapes in a back and forth game between filtering systems and bots designed to fool them. Far from being invisible filtered junk, they become part of a disposable visual culture. But how much visual garbage are we willing to put up with? What happens when the content of image spam shifts its focus and becomes more visible? By remixing and mashing up the ads you don't want to see, Master List2000 takes back the visual spaces overrun by spam and bots.