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New identities are in high demand online

Bailey, Mathé & Hunt: Purveyor of the finest digital identities since Sept. 28, 2013

Spectator interview: Marisa Olson

- What were your initial thoughts when you heard about the Digital Artist Auction and the profile transfer? (A part from "What i don't understand is how these people can just throw it all away?")

I've heard about people hacking or hijacking profiles and I've heard about people performatively unplugging their social media profiles (or combinations of the two), but this is new to me. I think it raises big, interesting trust issues that Lorna immediately nailed in her plea that Anthony delete their personal messages and that you further exploited in your creation of a duplicate Jeremy Bailey profile. And this trust manifests or is tested in multiple forms. What does it say about the world that one of the artists was willing to place this trust in a collector? How do your fb "friends" (what is a fb friend?) know we can trust you/them)? What matter who's speaking?

- How much are online identities worth? How much is your online identity worth?

What is worth? I think those questions can only be answered when ended with "on X date and time?" And then the answer is a variable of Y amount of control. Value is all always about having control. My identity (online or offline) is most valuable to me when it's mine.

- Are digital identities art?

Everything is always already performative. Cool idea, bro.

- How excited are you about the prospect of sending us to Cairo?

You're going to Cairo? What are you going to do there? That's pretty cool. Will "you" post a postcard on my fb wall?

:)))) How does this look? Too snarky near the end?

Marisa Olson is a new media artist based in New York

Spectator interview: Lorna Mills

- What were your initial thoughts when you heard about the Digital Artist Auction and the profile transfer? (A part from "DELETE MY FUCKING MESSAGES ANTHONY!")

No new quotes from me, my previous statement stands.

- How much are online identities worth? How much is your online identity worth?

Mine is worth more to me than it is to you. (however there are a few identities that would be fun to destroy from the inside)

- Are digital identities art?

Yours is, and you are good. Mine is a PR Whore-Donkey machine, and I am good.

- How excited are you about the prospect of sending us to Cairo?

Delirious with joy at the thought. You've been all over the world recently and I think it would be good for you (and amusing for me) to know that you will stay put for at least 8 months in Cairo, Illinois.

Lorna Mills is a new media artist based in Toronto

The artists who sold their Facebook profiles in the Digital Artist Auction launched a Kickstarter for Art Hack Day "AFK", Cairo, IL.

It got featured yesterday as "Project of the Day" on Kickstarter's front page.

Support them! (i.e., Jeremy Bailey, Anthony Antonellis, Jamie Allen, Darsha Hewitt, Barry Threw and TWEAK festival)

Lorna Mills dreads what the buyer might find in her private messages to Anthony Antonellis

Jeremy Bailey's Facebook profile was sold to an undisclosed collector

A Famous New Media Artist announcing the transfer of his account to an undisclosed collector

On the origins of the auction

Now that the profile transfer has taken place and the collectors have been famous new media artists for 24h we're documenting the performance. This is our first post.

The rise of the auction: "Going Dark"

The idea to auction out digital artist Facebook profiles arose during Art Hack Day Berlin which had as theme "Going Dark". We chose to interpret the theme quite literally, as 'going silent' or 'vanishing'. We had been obsessed by people who chose to disappear and the struggles they face, one of which is how to credibly establish a new, online persona. Evan Ratliff (formerly of Wired), shared his story of being a digital fugitive at the Walker Art Center a couple of years ago and we were moved by his story. (Incidentally this is also something undercover agents now have to deal with). An artist friend of ours had previously mentioned how she had deleted her Facebook account and it struck us that was a shame, since it could have come to good use elsewhere.

Facebook sells our profiles every day

So originally it was less about art and more about solving this practical problem in a playful way. Facebook profiles are really valuable to marketeers too and we're surprised there aren't companies that breed profiles and sell them. In any event, Facebook is an ad-driven business and we are being sold by them everyday, we're just shedding light on an existing practice. (Actually, at an auction value of ~$80 per profile and 1bn active users, Facebook's astronomical valuation begins to make sense:)

Digital personas are art

From an artistic perspective, It's striking how we perfect our digital personas more than our art. For net artists this makes sense since their Facebook presence / online personas are integral to their artistic practice. Digital identities are art works and as such they had to be sold at an auction. In addition, contrary to other digital works they are unique and uncopiable.

"The NEXT Anthony Antonellis"

Jeremy Bailey just got pwned...(see his vid here)

Teaser video looping immediately prior to the World's First Digital Artist Auction, Sept 28, 2013 at Art Hack Day Berlin "Going Dark"

#livestock #auctions #wernerHerzog #youHaveToLoveToTalk

The Digital Artist Auction Explained, Part III: (of III, read Part I and Part II)

A stock exchange for digital artists

Encouraged by the success of the first prototype built during Art Hack Day "Going Dark" - Bailey, Mathé & Hunt is hard at work to create a stock exchange for digital personas. We believe there is untapped value here - the auction proved that some people are worth more than others. For the stock exchange though, the profile transfer would be need to be fully anonymous to guarantee the value of the asset and each new account holder would need to take care to increase the value of his or her investment over time. Trashing a profile would be economically irrational as well as culturally nihilist. In a sense, this exchange would be the world’s first genuinely crowd-sourced art piece, a monument to the ingenuity of our capitalist overlords.

Thank you  

PS. Our award-winning auction software - in one fancy GIF

The Digital Artist Auction Explained, Part II: (of III, read Part I here)

Gallery owners, Bourgeoisie - delight!

With the Digital Artist Auction, economic capital can finally be directly transformed into cultural capital. After all, buyers always aspired to own the artist more than their art. We endorse this evolution and encourage artists to breed new profiles and resell them years later (like fine wines they age better than their makers).

Even buyers outside the art world will find great utility in this new market. After all, the most desirable object for anyone who wants to go dark is an established, credible Facebook profile (& the intelligence community pays a premium for this asset class). Sadly, some people view selling their Facebook profiles as the first world equivalent of selling a kidney. They chose to ‘delete’ their profiles, thereby destroying value :( Netartistdaily set a sad precedent here in choosing to shut down when their contributors' identity was compromised.

Stay tuned for Part III: (A stock exchange for digital artists)

Bailey, Mathé & Hunt interviews Darsha Hewitt about the sale and upcoming transfer of her FaceBook profile Wednesday November 13th. Be a part of the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1424518441099790/1428200064064961

The Digital Artist Auction Explained, Part I (of III):

Digital identities as artworks - the most significant sale of a lifetime

The 7 digital artist profiles sold for 365 EUR or 1.3M lifetime value (assuming 10 years of productive life ahead) at the auction. It’s no wonder these Facebook profiles are worth more than the estimated value of participating artists’ oeuvre. Digital identities are perfect artworks. They are unique and uncopiable. They constitute generative art in its purest form, taking on their own life long after the artist has deceased. Just imagine the possibilities if Warhol were still trolling us online! …Speaking of commercial artists, the auction raises the question of how to make a living: Should art be sold? Which is more liberating: the prospect of economic freedom or the ability to make art without pressure from the market? Is the Faustian bargain of selling our online personas in order to maintain artistic integrity worthwhile?

Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow: Gallery owners, Bourgeoisie - delight!

BREAKING: Anthony Antonellis just barely worth more than Kim Asendorf - Curious what each digital artist sold for on September 28? Here's the final breakdown on a screenshot from our patent pending GPL auction software. Of course, these amounts underestimate the true value of the sale. In a society where personhood is defined by online participation you could argue (doing a DCF valuation assuming 10 years of productive artist life per profile) that the auction raised 1.3M EUR. To explain the significance of the auction we'll start a three-part installment starting tomorrow Sunday.

Documentation showcasing the excitement of the historic, live auction on September 28!!

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