Derivatives > They Rule
They Rule reveals the power network linking together the directors of America’s largest businesses and universities. This piece by Josh On displays these connections by means of relational maps.
They Rule converts information into knowledge by means of condensing graphically and interactively the enormous amount of data available in the public domain. One of the ironies of this piece is that all the information it employs is widely available and publicly accessible on the Internet. The artist exploits the rule that obliges businesses selling shares on the stock markets to disclose the makeup of the upper echelons of their management. Similarly, the boards of directors of American universities, whose main source of income is derived from private donations, are obliged to be transparent and public. The information provided by businesses and universities is freely available to all.
This work, which can be classified in the genre of Net.Art, makes use of a nascent technique in the world of digital art, the visualization of databases . From monasteries, to libraries and to the Internet, the free access to information has travelled a journey towards democratization.
Art exploits this generalized accessibility in the systematic use of databases. The Net is not only the world’s largest database, it is also a medium for artistic expression. Information is the raw material for new digital artists like Josh On, and the visualization of data is their means of creating subversive ways of seeing the world.
One of the objectives of this piece is to exploit the idea of a social network. The artist criticises the accumulation of power in America in the hands of a network consisting of a handful of corporations. This network is woven together by board members as opposed to by the businesses themselves: if an individual is a board member on companies A and B, then they become linked in the network. However, these power links are not easily seen, the purpose of They Rule is to make them visible.
They Rule was awarded the Golden Nica Award at the Ars Electronica festival in the year 2002. It has been exhibited at a number of digital art festivals including, among others, DEAF03 organized by the Dutch V2 centre. The author of the piece, Josh On, is a New Zealand artist resident in the United States. Artist and digital designer, On is a member of the Futurefarmers studio of San Francisco. In 2005, in collaboration with Amy Balkin, they launched Exxonsecrets.org to visualize who is financing the businesses and institutions responsible for climate change.
