"In the_key, the artist’s house key has been digitally scanned and turned into a 3D-printable file, which can be readily converted back into a functional object. Whoever has this file, has the key to the artist’s home. Using a spambot, (which harvests e-mail addresses from the internet and sends anonymous mass e-mails to their owners) the file is now being disseminated en masse. The recipients are strangers. The name of the file is the artist’s home address.

 

More than simply questioning the predator/prey dynamic of the internet, the_key is an attempt to redeem the spambot, and other digital tools like it. At its core, the spambot is a way to share something with strangers. This work asks if we must see the nature of that sharing as already fixed. By using something which is normally impersonal, predatory and banal (used to spread advertisements and perpetrate scams) for an activity that is instead deeply personal, disarming and vital, the intention is to begin a process of reappropriation. To give spambots new agency."

 

Within the gallery, the above text was displayed on a laptop, while also read aloud by a computer-generated voice. Across from the text was a wall-sized graphic projection. The projection served as a visual stand-in for the 3D-printable key, (made accessible only through the spambot) capturing the potency of the relationship forged by it between artist, object and recipient.