Thursday, August 27, 2009

We Live in Public


Opening this weekend: We Live in Public, directed by Ondi Timoner

Synopsis from the film's website:

On the 40th anniversary of the invention of the Internet, We Live in Public reveals the effect the web is having on our society, as seen through the eyes of “the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of,” artist, futurist and visionary Josh Harris. Award-winning director Ondi Timoner (DiG! - which also won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2004 - making Timoner the only director to win that prestigious award twice) documented his tumultuous life for more than a decade to create a riveting, cautionary tale of what to expect as the virtual world inevitably takes control of our lives. Harris, often called the “Warhol of the Web,” founded Pseudo.com, the first Internet television network during the infamous dot-com boom of the 1990s. He also curated and funded the groundbreaking project “Quiet” in an underground bunker in NYC where 100 people lived together on camera for 30 days at the turn of the millennium. With “Quiet,” Harris proved how we willingly trade our privacy for the connection and recognition we all deeply desire, but that with every technological advancement such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, becomes more elusive. Through his experiments, including a six-month stint living with his girlfriend under 24-hour electronic surveillance, which led to his mental collapse, Harris demonstrated the price we pay for living in public.

Article about Josh Harris in the New York Times here. Sounds like the events in the movie sort of ruined his life.

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