«1 ⭐ Review Tour» looks at how rating systems shape our perception of place, how they drive algorithmic filtering and introduce the same valuation criteria into all aspects of our lives. While reviews are just personal opinions, their cumulative value is a driving force for the service industry and is a basis for recommender algorithms. For businesses, reviews are a feared measure of success or bust.
But not all sites, services or products can align with conventional consumer requirements. And while privately owned companies can fight negative online reviews, public spaces can hardly talk back or ask Google to leave them alone.
The exhibition explores what it means when places we love are scrutinised and publicly rated. The installation-based works, browser extension and performative tours investigate the politics of rating systems, their real world consequences, and the power ratings have to produce real effects. The installation pieces contrast the negative online opinions by inviting visitors to view them from the comfort of massage chairs creating a five star setting for one star opinions.
Biography
!Mediengruppe Bitnik are contemporary artists who work on and with the Internet. Their practice expands from the digital to affect physical spaces, often intentionally employing loss of control to challenge established structures and mechanisms. The works of !Mediengruppe Bitnik formulate fundamental questions concerning contemporary issues. !Mediengruppe Bitnik are the artists Carmen Weisskopf and Domagoj Smoljo.
Selena Savić
Selena Savić is a researcher and trained architect. Since 2023, she has been Assistant Professor of Protohistory of Artificial Intelligence and Machines in the Arts at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests animate a practice at the intersection of computational processes and posthumanist and postcolonial critique of technology.
Gordan Savičić
Gordan Savičić is a creative technologist, artist and designer whose work investigates the relationship between people, networks and interfaces. He has a background in media art and visual communication, and he has been active within the fields of academic research, teaching and design industry. His preferred location is the Internet spending his weekends at localhost.