Understanding Vorn is an artwork in flux, commissioned by Germany’s experimental, visually-focused Vorn Magazine.
Every five minutes, the system automatically scours thousands of weblogs from LiveJournal, searching for the four most recently-posted pictures whose filenames begin with the letters: V, O, R, and N. These four images are assembled into a grid, which defines the artwork for that moment in time.
Every five minutes, the grid changes, filled with new words and pictures from the blogosphere. The chaotic, unpredictable nature of Understanding Vorn reflects the chaotic, unpredictable nature of Vorn Magazine, which invites artists to create work, and then publishes whatever they propose, no matter how good, bad, or strange. Each issue of Vorn is a collage of imagery from a diversity of creative minds, each with its own style and worldview.
In the same way, Understanding Vorn unites unrelated creators: blog writers publishing their pictures and thoughts. When picked by the program, these blog writers experience the artist’s five minutes of fame, their work shown in the Vorn grid. Minutes later, their work vanishes, as a new crop is chosen.
