C404: Prototype #38
February 2002
C404: Prototype #38
Reminiscent of a Geiger counter or an oscilloscope, Prototype #38 attempts to visualize the ebb and flow of the unseen tide of spirituality that resonates across the internet. A column of words at the screen’s center shows live search queries that are retrieved by a custom engine and then automatically submitted back to another search engine. Prototype #38 then parses the results and displays them intermittently at the bottom of the page. The project picks up spiritual terms spanning multiple religions and cultures and rates them on a high-to-low scale, in effect presenting a random picture of the spiritual state of the world at any given moment.
Credits:
C404/Yoshi Sodeoka: concept and design.
Sean Rooney: sound, ActionScript and PHP programming.
Special thanks: Natalie Ammirato and Andy Cooke.
Under the creative direction of Yoshi Sodeoka (b. 1967; Hiroshima, Japan), C404 (active 1998–2005) maintained C404.tv, a showcase for art projects, and C404.cc, a collection of interactive, animated, and static visual ideas. With Sean Rooney (b. 1966; Cornwall, New York), Sodeoka also created digital noise music under the name P2P. Sodeoka’s projects span fine art, editorial, and music contexts. He has collaborated with musicians such as Metallica, Psychic TV, Tame Impala, and Beck, and his illustrations have appeared in the New York Times, WIRED, The Atlantic, and MIT Technology Review. Brands such as Apple, Samsung, Adidas, and Nike have commissioned his art. Sodeoka’s work also has been exhibited internationally at venues including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate Britain; the Cleveland Museum of Art; La Gaîté Lyrique, Paris; the Museum of the Moving Image, Queens; the Baltimore Museum of Art; and the Laforet Museum Harajuku, Tokyo. His work is in the collections of the Museum of the Moving Image and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Gate Pages
Every month from March 2001 to February 2006, the Whitney invited an artist or collective to present their work in the form of a “Gate Page” on artport. Each page was meant to function as a portal to the artist’s own sites and projects. The Gate Pages comprise a range of artistic approaches to the format—while some of them are designed as entry points to the respective artist’s website or promote a recently launched work, others take the form of a more complex stand-alone project.
Wherever necessary and possible, these works are made functional through emulation and reconstructions from the Internet Archive. Not all of them have been restored to their original state and their conservation is ongoing. You can also view the original Gate Pages archive to see how they were presented at the time of their creation.
artport
View more on artport, the Whitney Museum's portal to Internet and new media art.