Netmancer (2020) Daniel Shanken
Produced with assistance from telega.org
Please note, NETMANCER is no longer available, view Daniels work at www.dshanken.com
Using keywords selected by chance, NETMANCER is a browser-based application that locates and plays random YouTube videos in real- time. Within its constructed window, floating videos drift off-screen to be replaced by more videos, a process that can be interrupted and manipulated by the user's mouse. As well as zooming in and spinning the video cluster, the user can unmute and play the audio, solo or in concert, building narratives derived from the search engines that advise YouTube's video hub. With every ‘refresh’ new videos appear, collide and multiply. If there is an overload of calls to YouTube, a video of a burning log appears and replicates instead; it might refresh right away but you may have to come back the next day when YouTube lets us in again.
Daniel Shanken is an artist living and working in Hong Kong and London. He is currently finishing his PhD at the Contemporary Art Research Centre at Kingston University and is an Assistant Professor at the Academy of Visual Arts, HKBU. He works across disciplines to create installations, video, sculpture, sound, and media. His practice examines relationships between technology and cognition, focusing on ‘in-between spaces’ with fluid definitions. He explores ways in which meaning and perception are generated and altered through environmental, cultural, and material interactions. In his work he aims to render these exchanges by examining the possibility of alternative readings and outputs. His work has been exhibited at venues such as ICA London, Art Basel Hong Kong, Whitechapel Gallery, CCA Glasgow, Nottingham Contemporary, CFCCA Manchester, V Art Center Shanghai, and Kiasma Helsinki.
www.dshanken.com