Sid Lee Gallery (Amsterdam) is currently exhibiting 9 Eyes of Google Street View by Jon Rafman. The Montreal-based artist – who started out as a filmmaker – is fascinated by his film heroes Chris Marker and Jean-Luc Godard. Especially Jean-Luc Godard’s – who Jon calls the breath of cinema – use of film, pointing at itself, is something Rafman is now using in his Internet art. We visited Jon after the opening of his exhibition and talked about his project 9 Eyes of Google Street View. In this project Jon collected beautiful, weird and everyday pictures that were made with the electric cars of Google.

Why did you switch from film making to the use of Internet as an art form?
‘A few years ago I was disappointed with film, mainly because of the film community. Then I found a community of artists who called themselves Internet artists. They were all computing together on delicious, a social network where you can share bookmarks, and exchanging their weird Internet finds. This new community was very broad, as all the people focused on different things in their search. I used Internet for my work before, but now it was fun to share all my finds, for example the blog of a 16-year-old girl about her fascination with hamsters.’

How would you describe your art?
‘There’s no name for it yet. A lot of arts these days are hard to label. The concept is the essence of everything and not so much in what you name it. It’s about formalism. Often the half is the art and the other half is the text needed to explain the art. I like art that explains itself, where there’s no text necessary. I use a lot of mediums, but I don’t think of Internet as a medium. Internet is a space that has everything. For me Internet is what Paris was to Hemmingway or New York for Newman. Today there is not one city that’s the centre of art, I mean Berlin is pretty cool but it doesn’t stop there, today Internet is the centre of culture.’

How did you come up with the idea of Google Street View?
‘It started out as the excitement of virtual exploring. In the very beginning I was making collections of different things I found on Internet. I started with selecting these and making PDF books for my network. Google Street View is an ongoing project which I started in 2008, and suddenly it became very popular. It was something I did for fun, but now I do want to communicate. Photography and film are great inventions for art that’s been proven. Google Street View is even bigger; the world is being photographed by these anonymous 9 eyes cameras that see everything.’

Did you ever had enough of this project?
‘You have to be obsessive if you’re an artist and have the strength to go on with your work, even through pain and horror. Art is like a disease, but a very productive one. This project has been going on for over three years now and when it became successful I already had a big collection. I used to go on marathon nights with Ritalin but that’s over now.’

Did you find any pictures you couldn’t use because they were too offensive?
‘I haven’t found such pictures yet. I know people did find pictures of dead bodies in Brazil. If that would happen to me I wouldn’t know what to do with it. That’s also the thing that makes Google Street View so interesting; it is hardcore. It’s this being that sees and captures everything and doesn’t make exceptions on moral base. Not everybody is equal but for Google they are. When we see dead or homeless people we decide it’s inhumane. I think of Google as the modern God and we are there to bring humanity.’

Do you have a favourite picture?
‘It’s hard to pick a favorite when they’re your children. For each state of mind there’s a different one, but the picture of a woman staring towards the beach is one that comes close. I’m making a Google movie about that one as well. The film is about my long lost girlfriend and my search for her through Google Street View.’

Do you also see cultural differences?
‘Yes, you see differences in the streets. It’s hard to be concrete about it, but Google Street View makes you realize how global life is. This is our giant world united under Google. There’s a lot of hidden beauty that’s shown through Google Street View. In Google we trust. It’s like we are holding hands and singing we are the world.’

What else can we expect from you in the future?
‘I’m currently working on a project that’s about the shift in pop culture. When I grew up, pop culture in music, cartoons and magazines was donimated by the USA. The videogame culture however is not ruled by the USA but more by the Japanese. This new project is about the last great arcade in New York and the relationship between tough street kids of East and West New York. Main topic is the switch from American to Japanese heroes in videogames.’