(Ad)ssemblage (AOS Edition)
2021
Computer Generated Images

We cannot move through physical or digital spaces without being subjected to advertising. Advertising is ubiquitous with the internet. It intersects our shared digital communication and is often the price we pay for free online services. We are continuously micro-targeted, tracked, our behaviours analysed by algorithms, designed to show us more of what we seemingly desire. Using internet browsing data advertisements can be hyper-personalised to individual users. Design, colours and copy are generated in real-time to capture attention.

(Ad)ssemblage is a collaborative artwork by Kristian Jones and Radley Cook. The work explores the relationship between advertising and technology. (Ad)ssemblage comprises a series of images created using a procedural algorithm and a database of advertising imagery for luxury goods. Producing the database requires a component of human labour in the form of extensive image collection. The system then displays the images in a way which allows for juxtaposition and randomness. The system produces a mass assemblage, consequently demanding the viewer sees imagery that would not typically be used together in advertisements. However, the final images still feel like genuine adverts because the core elements of traditional advertising remain.

This method of creating work strongly references the lack of human involvement in the dissemination of digital advertising in today's society. Companies use advertising to create an emotive feeling in the viewer. This work attempts to distil the fundamental elements that make a product desirable. These images share a universal language, they highlight repeating themes and reoccurring motifs commonly used in visual marketing by companies, to sell nonessential products and services. (Ad)ssemblage imagines a future where all marketing material is computationally generated, for maximum appeal to an individuals emotions and to sell them products they do not need.

This AOS edition is a digital instance of the work created especially for arebyte Gallery. (Ad)ssemblage images randomly appear as pop-up banner ads, increasingly obstructing the user's view of the page, ultimately restricting the functionality of the page. This way of presenting the work is emblematic of the continual bombardment of visual marketing imagery in public space and digital environments. In addition to drawing parallels to malicious computer malware infections that behave in a similar way.

Kristian Jones is a multidisciplinary artist and lecturer at Birmingham City University. A graduate from the MA Fine Art program at Manchester Metropolitan University, his work focuses on ‘New Media Art’ and digital Interaction, combining generative graphics, algorithmic procedure, and sound / sensor driven technology. Kristian’s research currently centres around ‘surveillance culture’ and the human computer interactions of modern society as a result.

Radley Cook is a multidisciplinary artist, designer and founder of Algorithmic Studio. His work explores our impact on the environment, the nebulous political discourse of social media and our increasing dependence on technology. He uses emerging technologies, reappropriation and interactivity to comment on and provoke discussion about how we think about these topics.

Algorithmic Studio is a collaborative multidisciplinary production studio focused on artistic approaches to technology and emerging media. The studio functions as a platform for its network of artists to expand the conversation about broader societal topics created by technology, automation and 'datafication' through immersion, interactivity and reappropriation.