A portrait of the artist as a Google search history

The concept seems to be pretty easy. 3 years ago, French artist Albertine Meunier opened a Google account and enabled the Web history. Then she copied/pasted her history and made a video out of it. Just white letters over a black background, and a voice reciting all her search queries like a mantra. The result is My Google Search History and it goes like this:


A self-portrait, allegedly – an uncanny, hypnotic one which plays out “like a big souvenir movie”. A foucauldian technology of the self, in all its lo-tech online glory. But also, according to the artist, a way to “[highlight] privacy concerns on internet and more particularly privacy concerns on personal data and Google”. One of the most remarkable features of contemporary search engines is their ability to exploit our personal data for commercial purposes. This project is not only a social commentary about that: it is also a most welcome contribution aiming to the re-appropriation of this huge harvest of personal information.

—a