Networks of Us

Network of Us (2018) presents an interactive projection where one sees the flow of the first names of babies born in Brazil from the 1930s onward, obtained from a database of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

The greater the frequency of a given name, the greater its size. But how is it to see oneself amidst a “river of names”? In the interface, the visitors seek their own name in order to observe the variation of its frequency over time. A photo of the visitor is included and it is added to the graphic that shows the variation of the name. This set becomes part of the projection. The artwork discusses the place of the individual on the Internet, the lack of control in relation to privacy, what separates us, and what makes us the same. Amidst the emergence of false profiles and fake information, what makes us different from the robots that inhabit the Internet?

Network of Us (2018) was developed in collaboration with professor Claudio Esperança, who coded the system. The artwork was exhibited in Numerical Existence, in Centro Cultural Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro, from September 17th to November, 18th, 2018. The exhibition was curated by professor Kosminsky. Download the full catalog here.