Don´t be evil

Collaboration with Karel Koplimets

Interactive net-based installation,
computer, wood, plastic, walls, 3 webcams,
laser pointer
2010 - 2011

Don´t be evil was an experiment based on connections between public space in Tallinn and its virtual representation. It is nothing new that in Tallinn, city space is very controlled and organized and if you want to go by the law you can only spread information via expensive private billboards. By default, we all expect urban spaces to be something which we consume but not contribute to or add something of our own.

Don´t be evil is a form of virtual actionism where we try to recounquer urban space as a public platform for exchange and participation.

Similar to Google’s strategy to capture images for Google Street View, we create our own version of the streets of Tallinn, adding new public spaces and areas in post-processing. Images of Tallinn are modified in a way that all advertisments are removed and replaced by white spaces.

Visitors of the installation are invited to draw or write on these empty spaces with the means of a laser-tagging system, allowing them to redefine public space as a space for communication and exchange and not only a space for the advertisement of consumption.

“Don’t be evil” is an unofficial slogan of Google Inc., proposed by one of its lead engineers Paul Buchheit. It is a part of Google’s corporate policy, which has the leitmotif that it should be possible to make (lots of) money without doing (much) evil.