Djanlissa Pringels, Creators Vice, May 19, 2017
The Internet Express, Jonas Lund is a reflection of your biggest Internet frustrations.
Recently I tried to hypnotize myself using a YouTube video. According to the video , I would get a giggle after half an hour, which would last the entire evening. That would probably have succeeded, were it not that I was confronted at every turn by leaping advertising lawnmower, or a whole bunch of lascivious ladies who appreciate would agree with me. I was frustrated.
The computer game artist Jonas Lund plays with the exasperating frustration experienced Internet users when they receive an ad on their screen for the umpteenth time that they totally are waiting. The Internet Express is a racing game where you must dodge logos of famous brands. You do bump into eg the Apple icon, you will be overwhelmed by advertising. It looks a bit like a bootleg version of the 90s of Mario Kart , and all in all the most frustrating and addictive game for decades.
“One day I was with a friend to search for domain names to buy where the word ‘Internet’ in it,” says Jonas Lund to Creators. “We discovered that www.theinternet.express was still available, and for only 3.5 euros the site we were. Only then we started thinking what we actually going to do it after. Found by the word ‘express’ we soon realized that it had to be a racing game. ”
“The game is a reflection of how it feels to browse online,” Lund explains. Life on the Internet is a race in which the avoidance of advertising is a kind of game. Nothing is more frustrating than to be confronted with advertisements for pregnancy testing if you happen to just Googled just why you’re so moody lately. Ads are the cockroaches of the Internet: they squeeze into the smallest holes to make your life miserable and survive every offensive. And they are everywhere.
At the same time we can not do without advertising. We consume daily without problem free content: we are on Facebook, scroll through our Instagram feed and get our share facts within YouTube. And all for grand total of zero euros, thanks to the advertising we hate so. “I feel here twice over. Although ads are annoying, most online content creators earn their bread as,” Lund explains. “But there are differences: Some of our advertising is subtle, the other is to present in my game is the last variant..”
Lund itself also benefits from the ads. Overdose ads like mosquitoes buzzing around you during the game, really: he earns in other words money on advertising in the game. “That’s the best part,” he laughs. “I have not thought at first to make money here, but the first two days there were so many visitors that I was just paid for it.”
Charles Darwin would be proud: in the wild chaos of hostile cyberspace, artists find new ways to adapt to the whirlwind of flashy advertisements. New ways to survive.
“This is just really needed,” says Lund. “Gigantic companies use certain strategies to make money if they can do it, we can too, but it remains double:.. You have to embrace the one hand, but also expose and you have to remain critical.”
But why play a game of online advertising if you even come in your throat ordinary sessions? Firstly you undergo some kind of treatment. You’re just a lot of cursing that damn fucking ads then – still shaking from the adrenaline – to enter focus mode. It’s like tossing back a few cups of coffee, but without the nasty side effect of palpitations or dehydration.
On the other hand, I find it rather depressing. You’re in a game without end. There are no items to pick, you will not be immersed in breathtaking visuals and epic boss should not have to face. You’re stuck in an endless loop, a repetitive, claustrophobic journey into the world wide web.
In short, it is the perfect reflection of our most time-consuming hobby aimlessly wandering on the internet while we wegbonjouren every turn ads.
See here more Jonas Lund’s work.
