Workshop Statement

each and every one of us is seeking something they cannot find. but is algorithmic online searching really the best way to do it? the workshop is aimed at participants looking for a middle-ground approach towards online-life. we offer a toolkit to those who wish to neither disconnect nor let habit-forming technologies run their lives. we believe we can “deprogram” these technologies in a way that empowers us we will kick things off with a discussion on the ways in which habit-forming search technology shapes our daily pursuits. we will then split into pairs for two main exercise rounds—one per day. their goal: becoming a human search engine ROUND#1“mapping things out”: using a new and disruptive, rank-free search engine called Shmoogle, pairs will turn their most personal online exploration into a free-associative game ROUND#2 “cruising via proxy”: pairs from round#1 will go on an online date, using Shmoogle as their guide. together, they will explore each other’s neighbourhoods in hope to rediscover them through a fresh pair of eyes and a little bit of unhinged free-association we will wrap things up with a feedback round: “make the internet human again?” pros and cons maximum of participants: 12 duration: 4 hours (spread over 2 days) specific requirements 1- all participants would need proper running Internet and webcams. for Round#2, participants would need a smartphone with a video-call app installed on it (e.g. WhatsApp, Zoom, Skype, MSN) and with a data package that allows them to speak outside the house as well (as in, not just WiFi dependant). ideally, we would ask that they install either Zoom/Skype on their phones, so that those of them willing to record their private sessions could send it back to us for documentation purposes (not obligatory in any way, of course) 2- a handout will be sent to participants previously of the workshop. they would be asked to print it out beforehand so that they could fill it out freely with a pen or pencil during Round#1. the rest would be digital round#1.

• Carmel Barnea Brezner Jonas The daughter (the chemical reaction) of a psychoanalyst mother and a scientist father, born like this, I do art and conceptualize it. Multidisciplinary Art School, Shenkar College graduate 2018, Universität der Künste Berlin exchange student. My works explore the notion of communicating the self through contemporary consumerist experience, the way it appeals to the personal and intimate, and the space it affords to chance and variability, all the while maintaining the feeling of collectiveness. I am mainly driven by the question: Can a sublime space be attained when consumerism is approached artistically, offering a margin for reflection between the viewer and the piece itself? A member of the artist collective “Pathos-Mathos”, Co-founder of “Desperately Seeking” a creative community for online mental and emotional health, CPRA at Art Up Nation, Co-founder of “KDIMON collection”. *Dual Citizenship; Israeli and German.
• Gabriel S. Moses, Leipzig (Germany) based scholar and media artist. DAAD scholar and doctoral student at Bauhaus University, Weimar. Co-founder of the desperately seeking community. http://desperatelyseeking.online