Artists Statement
Live Feed @New Media Gallery (Vancouver)
Bitsoil POPup Tax and Hack Campaign (2018) will be running as a live feed directly from the New Media Gallery in Vancouver and will be presented as part of ISEA2020 Online.
The feed will feature a talk between the artist duo LarbitsSisters (in Brussels, Belgium) and curators Joyce + Duggan together with special guests. This interactive work is part of the Currency Exhibition at New Media Gallery, September 2 – December 6. bitsoil.tax/campaig An interactive, internet-based work, Bitsoil POPup Tax and Hack Campaign (2018) is a digital campaign with online and offline activity. It consists of multiple interactions between trolling social media bots on Twitter, in combination with an offline interactive installation functioning as a tool designed to restore fair balance to a digital economy known for its tendencies to concentrate wealth in the hands of a few big tech companies. The campaign claims a tax on user data collected by tax collector bots who mine data produced by Twitter users. As the bots interact with the Twitter user, a tweet with video pops up on the user’s account and redirects her to the online platform of the campaign. As the user joins the campaign, she chooses from several actions which will result in the redistribution of wealth and the promotion of fair value.
- LarbitsSisters Since 2010 social media researcher Bénédicte Jacobs (°1964, BE) & media artist Laure-Anne Jacobs (°1967, BE) form the artist duo LarbitsSisters. The work of the Brussels-based artist duo is situated at the crossroads of art, technology, political and societal issues. Their collaboration grew out of a shared fascination on new media, merging research and artistic practice onto projects in which concepts such as traceability, network analysis, algorithms, automation, data processing are explored. Their artistic practice focuses on the creative drives and patterns in digital media. Central is the friction between public and private, online and offline; between the unbridled faith in technological progress and everyday life. In 2011 LarbitsSisters founded ‘Larbitslab’ aimed at bringing together artists and scientists around societal issues brought by our networked societies. The specificity of Larbitslab lies in the methodological approach, which combines observing practices, media analysis and research on technical and societal implications of our contemporary networked society. Their work has been presented in several national and international exhibitions and symposia. larbitslab.be