Rita Hajj
A turn on, a turn off, 2021
For Net Encounters, Rita Hajj shares a live stream of her coffee maker for a month, inviting the audience to upload images of their own coffee or tea pots, as she develops a reflection on the history of the World Wide Web and the evolution of live streaming and online interaction.
In 1991, Cambridge University’s computer lab set up a camera to provide their staff with live images of their coffee pot. Years later, the webcam was connected to the internet and became one of the first live streams. In A turn on, turn off, Rita Hajj recreates this historic event in her studio by giving the public access to her own coffee pot via a website. She also invites users to share pictures of their coffee pots. To do so, users are invited to visit the corresponding website, agree to participate and upload a picture. Afterwards, they receive an algorithmically generated image based on a data training of coffee pots. In this sense, Hajj’s work offers a subtle critique of the social and commercial dynamics that have developed online. From a space of mutual exchange, the internet has transformed into a terrain where users are unwittingly exploited in the collection of information for profit.
Statement by Rita Hajj:
"This work emerged from questioning an encounter with a digital image. It reconstructs what became known as the world’s first webcam, set up by scientists at Cambridge University in England in 1991. Later, in 1993, the same camera broadcast a live monitoring of the coffee machine via a computer: three times a minute, the image of a coffee pot ran on the worldwide web. It is said that the image was accessed by millions of technology enthusiasts. It was reported on by the media and gave rise to many anecdotes. From a novelty, to a highly recognised icon, to a historical artefact – the image was taken down in 2001 and the coffee pot was auctioned on eBay for £3,350. Unfolding this moment through its reconstruction in the context and history of the World Wide Web is not just about witnessing a past that has led us to video chats or live stream e-commerce, but also about linking interactions to transactions. Interactions on the social web claim to offer inclusion by emphasising the seductive idea of a connected human network: A global togetherness. We – as users – agree with this seductive idea, although we are aware of the extent of its non-democracy. It could be asked: Whose technology is being used? For whom is it accessible? Why do we – as users – consent to a power that seduces us, not only through the use of technology, but also through the production of images?"
Rita Hajj (*1993 in Beirut) is an artist and designer. She has been living in Geneva since 2016. After graduating from the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts in 2014, she completed a master’s degree at the Haute école d'Art et de Design Genève in 2018. Through employing new media, writing, scenography and performance, her practice encompasses ongoing research that explores contemporary image production and its correlation to history and techno-politics. Her work has featured in group exhibitions at LiveInYourHead (Geneva), one gee in fog / two gees in eggs (Geneva), CAC-Brétigny (Brétigny-sur-Orge), and Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris). She has also participated in several programmes at the Istituto Svizzero (Rome), Haus der Statistik (Berlin) and Kunsthalle im Lipsius-Bau (Dresden). She recently completed an artist residency at La Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris) and is currently working on a publication with Editions Clinamen.
Artist’s note: This project was made possible thanks to the technical support of fellow artist and researcher Alex Gence.
Net Encounters was generously supported by the Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia.