Some of the amazing reality images captured by humble Google Street View.
Jon Rafman (1981) is an artist, filmmaker, and essayist. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Literature from McGill University and an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His films and new media work have been exhibited internationally including at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome and the New Museum in New York City.
Rafman’s most popular project to date is undoubted, Nine Eyes of Google Street View. The project has been featured in various publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Harper’s. You can see the entire collection on his website 9-eyes.
The site name makes reference to the nine cameras mounted to the tops of Google cars that have been responsible for mapping the world. The nine cameras automatically capture whatever moves through their frame every 10-20 meters. In Rafman’s own words:
“The detached gaze of their cameras witness but do not act in history. Street View photography, artless and indifferent, without human intention, ascribes no particular significance to any event or person. Bereft of context, history or meaning, the only glue holding the Street View images together is geospatial contiguity. Such a perspective does not easily contain the sublime.”