Anonymous Pixels

Given an anonymous pixel canvas shared by everyone on the internet, what would people draw? Inspired by the April Fools’ social experiment that was Reddit’s /r/place, I replicated their thousand-pixel grid with a 7x7 one. Except there was one difference: the canvas was connected to a skirt that live-updated as people painted away. Anonymity is an empowering tool, and people on the internet can be pretty mean. What would it take for people to censor themselves? Would the knowledge that their actions on the canvas be worn by a human being be enough? With a 7x7 grid that wasn’t super fine, not much can be drawn, but I wanted to suggest the idea of accountability. It certainly was fun to see the dynamics play out when I presented in class: who tried to flood-fill the grid, who dried to draw patterns, who tried to mark their territory with initials, who formed alliances.

UW DXARTS Mechatronic Art II. June 2017.