googlegrams

something a bit different in the form of a photo exhibition
the artist in question is a gentleman from spain named joan fontcuberta
and this particular exhibition is a series of photo-mosaics
compiled using a search engine on google images
so it's a great intersection of art, photography and technology
there are 15 pieces in all on display
each one a striking image in it's own right best viewed from a distance
made up of usually 10,000 tiny images courtesy of google
these component images are selected based on some common search words
for example the first piece is titled homeless
in large form is the image of a man lying asleep on the ground
the mosaics are the result of providing the names of the world's richest men
to the google image search engine and assembling the results
that seems to be the paradoxical approach on a few of them
another example being a famous image of 2 ufo's over a forest
based on images provided by the search engine on place names
where the catholic church has approved claimed sightings of the virgin mary
one of the most striking pieces and the one used to promote the exhibition
is the famous photo of the young american female soldier
with the iraqi prisoner on a dog leash at abu graigh prison
this time made up of images compiled when searching on the soldiers names
it seems our artist has a keen sense of injustice and wrong-doing
there are also works featuring the 9-11 attacks, guantanomo bay
and a sobering and chilling image of auschwitz prison
the one that had the most impact on me was that of an iraqi
the graphic image of his body and head after being hit by an explosive bullet
and to great effect the component images are the result of a google search
on the names of the leaders of the nations in the coalition of the willing
including you-know-who
but it's not all doom and gloom and sadness and suffering
there's a stunning and beautiful portrait of the artist's wife sylvie
compiled from images based on a search for the lyrics of bob dylan's just like a woman
nature gets a look in too with a serene pre-tsunami beach scene
and a couple of collages of our little planet from outer space
it's also a hands-on exhibition
there's an apple mac set up with the appropriate software loaded
to enable random words or phrases to be entered
to produce fully composed images using results from google images
all in all a very fulfilling 30-40 minutes spent
at this free exhibition