Artists note: The @ sign as a sculpture was on my list of project ideas for quite some time but I was looking for the right form. Introducing Delusion And Survival, custom designed and specially produced paper clips intended for daily use in a post-AI world. They come in a box of 50 pieces as an open edition and are available through The Internet Shop for only 20,- € (good deal for so many sculptures!) Get a box and tag some friends!
Paper clips have been around for a long time in the classic office setting. For this reason they also became an integral part of the computer desktop interface culture. Every messaging program uses the paper clip icon for sending attachments and of course everyone know famous Clippy Microsoft introduced in 2000. But how should a real digital paper clip look like?
The title Delusion And Survival refers to the theory of the paper clip problem. In this theory a delusional super AI with the goal to survive dramatically over-accomplishes its task to produce paper clips, to the extend of human extinction and destruction of the planet. Would these paper clips be in the shape of the @ sign? Since the @ sign was introduced in email addresses in 1971 it became an inherent part of addressing in digital communication and symbol of the Internet. Today all messengers and social media platforms use this particular character for addressing. In the meanwhile social media, especially twitter became a very hostile place in a modus of delusion and survival.
After all the the paper clip and @ sign share a lot of history. While waiting for the paper clip key we can enjoy Delusion And Survival paper clips. The @ sign just provides a perfect shape to serve as a paper clip!
