Jon Rafman

b. 1981, Montreal. Lives and works in Montreal

The Nine Eyes of Google Street View, 2009–ongoing
Slide show, 36' 32”
Courtesy of the artist

Selected especially for The Coming World, the collection of images on view is part of Jon Rafman’s ongoing project The Nine Eyes of Google Street View. Over the past decade, Rafman has been compiling a vast archive of Google Street View stills, creating an epic record of humanity in action in the spirit of pioneering street photographers. Each time the images are shown, the collection is shaped and structured according to different criteria, influencing how they are read and interpreted. As the artist puts it, “Street View collections represent our experience of the modern world, and in particular the tension they express between our uncaring, indifferent universe and our search for connectedness and significance.”

Captured by a robotized camera, they show the world untainted by emotions or moral dimensions: a dog peeing on a wall, a car crash and a boy crying, two women standing with two guinea pigs on a leash, a butterfly flying in the middle of a dirty street, children running and laughing, a blaze of light. The images have an effect on us through their rough aesthetic, but most notably through the meaning we seek in them and ultimately never fail to ascribe—one of the features that makes us human—regardless of how insignificant the subject may be.