Anonymous Gods

2014
Screenshots from Google Street View, prints, variable dimensions.

The Google robot automatically blurs every face it recognizes - including statues' ones. In the Las Vegas of Google Street View, the Sphinx’s flamboyant mask of Tutankhamun has been swapped out for the eroded face of its Egyptian model. Because, as indicated by the American company, "if one of our images contains an identifiable face [...] our technology automatically blurs certain elements to prevent that person from being identified." Blurred by Google, all faces are equal, regardless of scale. Anonymous Gods offers us the point of view of a robot that makes no distinction between humans and their representations, or the sacred and the profane. So these large statues – whether religious or commercial – are hidden from their seated observers on the other side.

Biel Festival of Photography display. © Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography, photo: Yannick Luthy, 2017.

Pleine saison exhibition view, galerie Toutouchic, Metz, 2015. Sphynx, Luxor, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Print on tarpaulin, 200 x 112,5 cm, 2014.

Flou exhibition view, Photo Élysée, Lausanne, 2023. Pigment printing under diasec: 23x40.5 cm each. © Photo Elysée / Plateforme10.

Rabbit Hole exhibition view, Cankarjej Dom, Ljubljana, 2020.

Variation media art fair exhibition view, Espace des Blancs-Manteaux, Paris, 2015. Pigment printing under diasec: 40x22,25 cm each.

Sphinx, Luxor, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Screenshot, 2014.

Lord Murugan Statue, Murugan, Batu Caves, Gombak, Malaysia. Screenshot, 2014.

Kannonyama, Kaga, Ishikawa, Japan. Screenshot, 2014.

Christ the King, Świebodzin, Poland. Screenshot, 2014.

Tulsa state fair commercial statue, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. Screenshot, 2014.

Standing Amitābha Buddha of Fo Guang Shan, Buddha (Amitābha), Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Screenshot, 2014.

Lady Liberty, Liberty Island, New York, USA. Screenshot, 2014.

Statue of Liberty, Havan Mall, Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil. Screenshot, 2014.

Statue of Liberty, Château d'Ax, Vedenheim, France. Screenshot, 2014.

Statue of Liberty, Colmar airport, France. Screenshot, 2014.

Amitābha Bouddha, Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Screenshot, 2014.

Cristo del Otero, Palencia, Castilla y León, Spain. Screenshot, 2014.

Great Buddha of Thailand, Buddha (Gautama), Ang Thong, Thailand. Screenshot, 2014.

The cornish miner, Kapunda, Australia. Screenshot, 2014.

Paul Bunyan statue, Bangor, Maine, USA. Screenshot, 2014.

Sendai Daikannon, Sendai, Japan. Screenshot, 2014.

Statua de San Carlo Borromeo, San Carlo, Piemonte, Italia. Screenshot, 2014.

Great Standing Maitreya Buddha, Emei Township, Hsinchu County, Taiwan. Screenshot, 2014.

Guze Jibo Daikannon of the Narita-san temple, Kannon (Guanyin) – Jibo Kannon, Kurume, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan. Screenshot, 2014.

Marianne, Paris, France. Screenshot, 2017.

Murugan, São Francisco, Canindé, Ceará, Brasil. Screenshot, 2014.

Mazu, Xinwu, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Screenshot, 2014.

Statue of Liberty, New York Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Screenshot, 2014.

Online press : Fast Company / Co.Design, The Creators Project, The Daily Dot, It's Nice That , io9, Pierre Ménard / Liminaire, Spacelab, Wired, Pijamasurf , Dadabot, Playground Mag, Liputan, Kashmir, Membrana, Dimart, Bognorphoto, We-make-money-not-art...