Eva & Franco Mattes WORKS EXHIBITIONS ABOUT

 

The Bots (2020)

A 7 episodes video installations series based on interviews with internet content moderators. The interviews were conducted in collaboration with journalist Adrian Chen during a year-long investigation. Watch the videos on DIS.

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

 

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

 

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

 

 

Several actors reenacted the interviews from home, filming themselves using their phones.

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

 

 

Each video is installed on the back of a customized office desk of the same brand used at Facebook’s Berlin moderation center, where the interviewees worked.

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

 

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

 

 

To tell their stories we have borrowed the aesthetics of fake make up tutorials used on social media to bypass censorship.

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

 

 

Serious discourse – addressing topics such as violence, sexual abuse, hate speech and terrorism – is constantly interrupted by makeup tips. Makeup is a way of concealing imperfections on our faces, in a way not so different from content moderation, which beautifies the surface of the internet by removing unwanted content.

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

 

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

Screenshot from “Greek Market”, featuring Bobbi Salvör Menuez

 

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

Screenshot from “Italian Market”, featuring Ruby McCollister

 

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

Screenshot from “Arab Market”, featuring Jake Levy

 

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

Screenshot from “Turkish Market”, featuring Irina Cocimarov

 

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots

Screenshot from “English Market”, featuring Jesse Hoffman

 

 

 

Eva & Franco Mattes, The Bots, Alexandra Marzella

Screenshot from “Greek Market”, featuring Alexandra Marzella

 

 

 

Commissioned by KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin