2013–2019Participatory Art
Witness Your World
Participatory platform producing collective works from user submissions every 100 hours. Exhibited internationally 2013–2019.
A participatory platform producing new collective artworks every 100 hours from user-submitted images and texts. Users submitted images and short texts; an algorithm processed submissions and consolidated the highest-voted contributions into a single collective artwork. Every 100 hours the artwork was replaced by a new one. The artists set the parameters and withdrew.
Exhibited internationally 2013–2019: Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok, Moscow, Milan, Antwerp, Brussels. The platform is closed. The archive remains.
Critical Writing
The following text was written by Pieter Jan Valgaeren, research professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam and artistic director of Stadstriennale Hasselt-Genk, and published in the Leroy Brothers catalogue, 2013.
ART FOR THE PEOPLE
Pieter Jan Valgaeren
Many ideas that should today speak for themselves seem unduly remote for many artists, museums and galleries. Far from white cubes and studios, art belongs to the people. As a curator, I try to approach the audience more proactively. Given the abundance of imagery that the digitally driven individual must take in, art and reflection — which by their nature demand time and space — can seem overtaken by the data storm.
We must attend endless events, and FOMO becomes ever bigger — a fear amplified by the omnipresence and popularity of social media. Beyond algorithms, society itself is altered by these networks as attention mechanisms craving for images that offer overly glamorous, one-sided and censored views of the reality we live in.
According to empirical studies, the combination of this fear of missing out and the social urge to maintain a constant online presence result in unprecedented pressure that leads to depression and burnout. Only a few artists and institutions are taking active steps to lead this social debate.
Leroy Brothers have been active advocates since 2012; Witness Your World offers an artistic counterweight to the ever present social networks. Since the turn of the century, it has become difficult to imagine the experiences of the connected individual without online networks. Not only in the Western world, life without social media has become unthinkable.
Although the intent of these networks is inherently social, the capitalist business model seems the main driver of expansion and intrusion.
Pieter Jan Valgaeren is a curator, researcher and lecturer. From his background in art history and law he specialized in new media, hybrid art forms, technology and intellectual property. He published on different topics such as IP rights in the digital age, social media, media philosophy and art in the public domain. In the past years he worked as a consultant for the EU in Art and Technology and for the Flemish Ministry of Culture. As a lecturer he taught at Universities in Berlin, Valletta, Tilburg and Madrid and Thomas More Mechelen, PXL and UCLL. Currently he is research professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Since 2014, he is the artistic director of Stadstriennale Hasselt-Genk.
Pieter Jan Valgaeren
Many ideas that should today speak for themselves seem unduly remote for many artists, museums and galleries. Far from white cubes and studios, art belongs to the people. As a curator, I try to approach the audience more proactively. Given the abundance of imagery that the digitally driven individual must take in, art and reflection — which by their nature demand time and space — can seem overtaken by the data storm.
We must attend endless events, and FOMO becomes ever bigger — a fear amplified by the omnipresence and popularity of social media. Beyond algorithms, society itself is altered by these networks as attention mechanisms craving for images that offer overly glamorous, one-sided and censored views of the reality we live in.
According to empirical studies, the combination of this fear of missing out and the social urge to maintain a constant online presence result in unprecedented pressure that leads to depression and burnout. Only a few artists and institutions are taking active steps to lead this social debate.
Leroy Brothers have been active advocates since 2012; Witness Your World offers an artistic counterweight to the ever present social networks. Since the turn of the century, it has become difficult to imagine the experiences of the connected individual without online networks. Not only in the Western world, life without social media has become unthinkable.
Although the intent of these networks is inherently social, the capitalist business model seems the main driver of expansion and intrusion.
Pieter Jan Valgaeren is a curator, researcher and lecturer. From his background in art history and law he specialized in new media, hybrid art forms, technology and intellectual property. He published on different topics such as IP rights in the digital age, social media, media philosophy and art in the public domain. In the past years he worked as a consultant for the EU in Art and Technology and for the Flemish Ministry of Culture. As a lecturer he taught at Universities in Berlin, Valletta, Tilburg and Madrid and Thomas More Mechelen, PXL and UCLL. Currently he is research professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Since 2014, he is the artistic director of Stadstriennale Hasselt-Genk.
The following text was written by Marco Bazzini, art historian, critic for Artribune, and president of ISIA Firenze (2016–2019), and published in the Leroy Brothers catalogue, 2015.
TESTIMONIES OF THE NETWORK USERS
Marco Bazzini
For the Leroy Brothers — one of the most interesting collectives on the current international scene — openness has always been central to their way of interacting with the art world. Active mainly on the web, but also working with installations and exhibitions in public and private spaces, the Leroy Brothers have contributed to expanding both aesthetic boundaries and the concept of authorship by delegating art projects to their audience as direct participants. The three brothers confine their own input to setting the stage and directing situations — physical or online — which people then fill with their own content.
Since 2006, Leroy Brothers have been developing social networks, and Witness Your World aims to mirror contemporary society as a witness to our times. They believe that artists know best how to capture and represent their time.
The social web platform produces artworks elaborated by algorithms, departing from the contributions of those who choose to participate.
In contrast to other codified forms of storytelling that we encounter on a daily basis, the images and messages that appear on Witness Your World function as a free reflection on society. Anyone who wants to be involved in recording the period in which we live can upload their content to the website, contributing to the formation of a collective work. The result is a multiplicity of points of view, realised by a diverse and vast group of individuals.
Through social networking, crowdsourcing and sharing, Witness Your World creates a new identity for our world. Could it leave the infinite space of web 2.0 and 3.0 to return to the confines of a more traditional art space? Could this way of generating new possibilities be transported from virtual space to a tangible physical exhibition? Could the creation of an artwork testifying to our time involve many different people? For the Leroy Brothers collective, the challenge is to answer these questions.
Marco Bazzini is art historian and critic for Artribune. He has been appointed president of ISIA Firenze for the period 2016–2019.
Marco Bazzini
For the Leroy Brothers — one of the most interesting collectives on the current international scene — openness has always been central to their way of interacting with the art world. Active mainly on the web, but also working with installations and exhibitions in public and private spaces, the Leroy Brothers have contributed to expanding both aesthetic boundaries and the concept of authorship by delegating art projects to their audience as direct participants. The three brothers confine their own input to setting the stage and directing situations — physical or online — which people then fill with their own content.
Since 2006, Leroy Brothers have been developing social networks, and Witness Your World aims to mirror contemporary society as a witness to our times. They believe that artists know best how to capture and represent their time.
The social web platform produces artworks elaborated by algorithms, departing from the contributions of those who choose to participate.
In contrast to other codified forms of storytelling that we encounter on a daily basis, the images and messages that appear on Witness Your World function as a free reflection on society. Anyone who wants to be involved in recording the period in which we live can upload their content to the website, contributing to the formation of a collective work. The result is a multiplicity of points of view, realised by a diverse and vast group of individuals.
Through social networking, crowdsourcing and sharing, Witness Your World creates a new identity for our world. Could it leave the infinite space of web 2.0 and 3.0 to return to the confines of a more traditional art space? Could this way of generating new possibilities be transported from virtual space to a tangible physical exhibition? Could the creation of an artwork testifying to our time involve many different people? For the Leroy Brothers collective, the challenge is to answer these questions.
Marco Bazzini is art historian and critic for Artribune. He has been appointed president of ISIA Firenze for the period 2016–2019.