1111111111…1111111111.com

VIEW FULL PROJECT AT THIS LINK

HISTORY

11111111…11111111.com (Sixties One Dot Com 食屎第一得金) began as a conceptual apolitical net.art project. The original concept is to question the power of viral marketing by producing a “User-Unfriendly” website with a unique URL address, heavy graphical elements and rich scripts. After the horrendous events of 9/11 Terrorist Attack and U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the website took a sharp turn focusing mainly on political cause.

The website has culminated over 30 million hits (stop counting since 2005 due to being seriously hacked that wiped out several servers) since it debut and has once set the highest traffic records of the webhosting company MediaTemple.net. The website won the “VIPER International Award- Internet” in the 2002 VIPER Internationales Festival Für Film Video Und Neue Medien (Basel, Switzerland), was given an “Honorary Mention- Net Excellence” in the 2002 Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria) and included as an permanent collection at Museum Of Applied Arts Frankfurt (Frankfurt, Germany). 60X1.com was reviewed by periodicals globally including Liberation (France), Le Monde (France), El Pais (Spain) and La Repubblica (Italy).

ARTIST STATEMENT (after September 11, 2001)

60X1.COM employs images from popular culture, political figures and imagery found in cyberspace. The splash pages of 60×1.COM adopt the form of advertising in a reduction of contemporary events to a cartoon like mythology. The website explores the nature of internet communication while touching on issues such as identity politics, sexuality and power.

ORIGINAL ARTIST STATEMENT (pre September 11, 2001)

60X1.com is a website whose sole content consists of splash pages- the opening pages for most websites, usually containing a small amount of graphics. After clicking through all the splash pages the spectator will find there is actually no core content, opening the question of definition regarding content in web pages.

60X1.com is designed to be user-unfriendly, aiming to serve as a counter structure to the model of most successful websites- portal sites where all the links are contained in one interface in order to generate a maximum number of hits, instead 60X1 is designed to generate a minimum amount of hits with it’s long domain name, one way navigation and it’s big file sizes of images, existing as an experiment to test viewers’ patience and expectation, as well as calling the internet into question as a forum for communication.

One way navigation denies the concept of the internet being a web.

The experiments on internet communication continue within 60X1. Certain elements in this site play with phenomena that only exist within the confines of the internet-the Hoax, irresponsible postings on numerous message boards, and strange identities that only exist in cyber worlds including Asian Prince, Supergreg, GeorgeWgirls, Peter Pan etc…Take Asian Prince as an example: The original identity of the now so-called Asian prince was a Vietnamese glamrock singer in the late seventies. In late 1999 an anonymous man found the image and applied a whole new identity, Asian Prince onto this retired rock star’s image. After this secondary manipulation, 60X1.com comes in and remanipulates the readymade identity. The manipulations can have several directions. I can erase the post original and apply a new set of meanings onto the figure or simply extend an already constructed identity. This process of altering meaning and identity can only be seen in the internet realm because the creator/manipulator usually perceives the internet as a medium that does not have to bear too much responsibility (no censorship) while publishing controversial material. One interesting anecdote is one morning I actually received a phone call from a woman who desperately wanted to meet Asian Prince, thus taking the process of three constructed and shifting identities and their subsequent meanings and turning it once more with a fourth process-elements of the virtual world transcend and become reality.

60X1.COM will keep proliferating until it reaches sixty splash pages. Keep clicking the “enter” button until you see the last page. Bon Voyage!

AWARDS

60X1.COM has won the following awards.

EXHIBITIONS

Due to the popularity of 60X1.COM I was invited to show my works and give lectures at various places. Here are some selected venues, for the full list please check out my Resume page.:

EXHIBITION 1:

“WELL HUNG” EXHIBITION AT BRADFORD, U.K.

click here or the image above to view the photo documentation

Mr. Steve Manthorp, Special Project Officer at the time for Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford invited me to exhibit my works. Most of the political images from 60X1.COM were printed out on larger scale, with the 20 feet tall “GozillaArafat VS Optimus Prime Minister” being the biggest. In the opening reception a GozillaArafat roaring contest was held and the finalists are being judged by a panel of kids wearing George W. Bush masks. During my visit I was invited to give a lecture at University Of Bradford and join the discussion at FABRIC– Forum for the Arts in Bradford- Regeneration, Inclusion and Creativity.

EXHIBITION 2:

“.PUN SULLA CENSURA E I SUOI DERIVATI” EXHIBITION AT C.S.O.A. COX 18, MILAN, ITALY

click here or the image above to view the photo documentations

This exhibition marks my first international debut. The show is organized by Piccolo Network Contro La Guerra and take place at C.S.O.A. COX 18 in Milan. C.S.O.A. stands for “Centro Sociale Occupato Autogestito” which translated to “Self governing squated social center”. Originally I am invited to show my 60X1.COM but due to the political turburlence in U.S. at the time I decided to create a new project for them, hence the Global Presidential Election was born.

EXHIBITION 3:

“BAY AREA NOW 3” EXHIBITIONAT YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS, SAN FRANCISCO

I was invited by curator René de Guzman to be part of the BAN 3. In the show I exhibit 60X1.COM and create a new project specifically for YBCA called 60X1.CAM ULTIMATE INTERACTIVE WEBCAM SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM FOR HOMELAND SECURITY.

EXHIBITION 4:

STRAIGHT OUT OF BRISBANE (SOOB), BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

I am invited by the WhiteHouse Gallery (now obsolete) to attend the SOOB festival in Brisbane, Australia. During my short stays I present 60X1.COM along with Global Presidential Election and host a workshop. Photo Documentations coming soon!

POST 60X1.COM

In 2007, due to the advancing of technology, the internet finally become the best place to circle video propaganda. Therefore I decided to turn some of the graphical elements into a High Definition video. The outcome is “Because Washington Is Hollywood For Ugly People” which exhibited at 2008 Sundance Film Festival, New Museum and Postmasters Gallery.