[ISEA95] Artist Statement: Leon Cmielewski & Josephine Starrs – User Unfriendly Interface

Artist Statement

The User Unfriendly Interface is designed to make you think twice about trusting computers, posing the question, “Why do computers want to be friends with us?” The work subjects the user to a process which includes not only answering impertinently personal questions, but also accepting the damning judgments passed by the computer on diverse aspects of your personality, including your sexual orientation, your ideology and your probability of being human.

  • Leon Cmielewski has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Animation at the Victorian College of the Arts and a Certificate in Graphic Design. He has been active as a graphic designer in several events in Australia and has worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. His personal work has been shown recently at the Experimental Art Foundation, the OZCHI Conference and the Underdale Art Museum.
  • Josephine Starrs (Australia)  is an artist whose work deals in part with the effect of new technologies on notions of subjectivity, especially with regard to gender issues. Ideas of play and pleasure are also important in her interactive works. She is a member of the artists’ collective VNS Matrix.