Emilio Vavarella

Emilio Vavarella 

The Google Trilogy - Report a Problem 

'A series of 100 images entitled Report a Problem is the first part of a project about the relationship between humans, power, and technological errors. “Report a Problem” is the message that appears at the bottom of the Google Street View screen, which allows viewers to report a problem during the viewing of the place they are virtually visiting: missing censorship, wrong colors, random appearances. I traveled on Google Street View photographing all the “wrong landscapes” I encountered before others could report the problems and prompt the company to adjust the images. Common landscapes are transformed by Google’s unexpected technical errors into something new.' 

The Italian Job 

'The project began within the National Stolen Art File (NSAF) FBI Archive of stolen artifacts: a digital repository of stolen art created by the US government intelligence agency. Together with curators Bosaro and Stanisic (whose curatorial texts are an integral part of the artwork) I created an exhibition based on copies of stolen photographs and focused on issues of material labour and immigration. The artwork exists in two formats: as an animated .gif originally presented at the Widget Art Gallery and as a series of unique physical copies signed by me and sold through a platform for peer to peer commerce. This platform, called OpenBazaar, is an open source project that proposes an online decentralized network that has no fees, no intermediaries, uses BitCoins and cannot be censored.'

http://emiliovavarella.com/theitalianjob2/

The Google Trilogy - The Driver and the Cameras 

'Each Google Street View car is equipped with a Dodeca 2360 camera with eleven lenses, capable of photographing 360 degrees. Afterwards the photos are assembled, creating a stereoscopic view, and an algorithm developed by Google automatically blurs the faces of people to protect the privacy of those accidentally portrayed. To create this series of photographs, I went looking for faces that had escaped Google Street View’s algorithm. The eleven portraits I isolated immortalize the driver of the Google car. The driver is a sort of phantom power; he appears where he shouldn’t be and his presence has escaped censure. His face is the symbol of an error yet at the same time shows a human side and, perhaps, the limits of technological power.'

http://emiliovavarella.com/archive/google-trilogy/driver-and-cameras/