As you may have deduced from the dramatic decrease in posts (especially in comparison to a year ago), I have grown rather tired of the Internets. I love having information (and music) at my fingertips, but I resent the fact that a day off spent at home basically means I waste the whole day on my laptop for no good reason at all. Actually, the Internets just makes me plain cranky. So perhaps that's why I'm rather intrigued by Berlin-based media artist Aram Bartholl's idea called
Dead Drops (found via
Tara St. James'
blog). Basically, Dead Drops is a form of electronic graffiti with a practical usage, whereby someone cements a USB stick into a wall/building/curb/something of their choice in a public space, and passersby armed with laptops can then upload whatever files they'd like onto the stick, and subsequently download whatever is already on the stick from previous 'droppers', thus forming "an anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network." I think it's a brilliant idea (so long as it doesn't melt my computer with some sort of malicious computer and/or human virus), especially since a good Internet connection is sometimes hard to come by, as is a working postal service. And though I love having lookbooks and whatnot available to me in seconds, it would make fashion a lot more interesting if I had to go download the newest collection by so-and-so from an old brick retaining wall or a park bench or something. I could also see some romantic file-sharing courtships developing via anonymously uploaded love letters (though the drops should then be in
very public spaces to keep the creeping to a minimum). I'm not sure what I myself would want to drop, seeing as I don't really want to aid potential cheaters by uploading any of my unpublished papers. It would be interesting, however, to see how many readers I was left with if people were required to download my newest blog post from a Dead Drop...
Anyway, while Dead Drops are meant for anyone to do themselves (and there are now hundreds of drops all over the world), Aram started the project himself in NYC with five drops. According to the database list, a couple of these original drops are now defunct. There is, however, still an active drop at W 21st St., where I will be walking by via the High Line Park in about two weeks. It would certainly bring a whole new meaning to 'souvenir' if I brought an interesting file home. By the way, does anyone know of a good therapy group for overcoming NY addiction? Because this is quickly becoming a problem...
(Photo featuring would could be an excellent Dead Drop wall from the lookbook of London-based label
siob.she, found via
NJAL)
