Constant Dullaart
January 4 – 16, 2012
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“You affect the world by what you browse.” - Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
To many, the dawn of web 2.0 symbolized a new media democracy. It held the potential of a new frontier where control of information and media could be shifted away from its corporate centers and into the hands of individuals, widening the latitude of participation and communication between different groups. And while access has indeed expanded exponentially, the control and precision offered by digital media, compounded with the “network effect” of systems’ proliferation, allow for a increased opportunity for standardized formats for communication–such as Facebook and YouTube–to prevail overall. Constant Dullaart’s pieces engage in dialogue with accepted digital standards or “defaults” created by the networked environment, highlighting the tension between digital media as a homogenizing force and the individual’s opportunity as a media outlet. His YouTube performance is a re-enactment of the “default” digital loading screen animation, re-interpreted through the artist’s personal and physical involvement using white dinner plates and his immediate surroundings. Defaultism.com is a rotating series of “portraits” of website design formats, with any potential content replaced by the effectively meaningless placeholder text known to graphic and web designers as “Lorem ipsum” and a constant stream of ambient noise from a crowded room.