Sid Lee Collective Amsterdam exhibits 9 eyes of Google Street View

May 12, 2011 | by Ridz | Art

About the author

Ridz, advertises, produces indie/electronic music, performs throughout the Netherlands but ultimately always ends up at an Amsterdam based ensemble... then he blogs about all these things.

On April 28th, Sid Lee, the international creative agency specialised in the conception and communication of brand experiences, invited artist Jon Rafman to collaborate on a new exhibition, exploring the intriguing incursion into privacy and reality through the eyes of Google Street View, something we’ve all done sometimes. After the official opening, two exhibitions were planned to show the man’s photography. The last one will be held this Saturday, May 14th. Jon Rafman will be in the house to talk about his work and close the show.

Google Street View
In 2007, Google initiated the Google Street View project by sending out an army of hybrid electric cars supplied with the latest image capturing device: the 9 eyes. This camera, mounted to a pole on the top of the car, creates a picture every 10 to 20 meters. Computer software then stitches the 9 photos together and creates 360º horizontal and 290º vertical panoramic views.

9 Eyes Project
In his 9 Eyes Project, Rafman is as much an artist as he is a curator. Not only did he browse through millions of images created by a generic and automated process, he also added a cultural and historical context to this process. He sorted the images into an endless amount of categories: gritty urban life reminiscent of hard-boiled American street photography, postcard perfect shots, old family snapshots, landscape photography, and so on.

Rafman refers to his work as the work of an ‘internet aware artist'; breaking the boundaries of traditional art and its presentation, constantly experimenting. The 9 Eyes project touches the concepts and philosophy of past Dadaist artists, anarchist in nature. However, instead of exposing and ridiculing contemporary culture, Jon Rafman uses it as a vehicle to express his vision.