Printer in Loop | About the work

At the heart of the installation stands a professional Epson printer alongside an Apple computer – the essence of “the photography studio” in its contemporary incarnation. A custom designed algorithm runs a continual series of actions and functions as a “hidden hand” – it “types” a file of five letters into the Google Images search engine, “marks” one of the images on the first page of results and “sends” it to the printer. There it is printed on a paper roll that operates in a cycle, much like a conveyor belt. Within a defined period of time, the paper roll is cut, removed from the printer and hung on the exhibition space’s wall. A new roll of paper is fed into the printer in its place. During the course of the exhibition, the walls will be covered with more and more random images produced from the online search engine.

The installation investigates the impact of the Internet on the medium of photography. By exaggerating actions that millions of people throughout world perform on a routine basis, it wonders about the developing role of the online search engine – not only as the most extensive pool of photographs and data today, but also one that converts the information into enormous economic value.