Without addresses

artists	Joachim Blank, Karl Heinz Jeron
inception	1997
item in Wikibase	Q26

without addresses at documenta x [variant 1]

item in wikibase	Q29
inception	1997
URL	http://www.documenta.de/without_addresses/f.hmtl

Overview

without addresses is a browser-based artwork by Joachim Blank and Karl-Heinz Jeron (Blank & Jeron) commissioned for documenta X in 1997. In the original version [variant 1], the user was able to respond to the artists' call - "Tell me who you are!" - by entering a text into a text box. The entered text was used as a search string for an online search on the internet. The images, text and links found were used to automatically generate a personalised HTML page. The resulting pages were stored in a database and appeared as dots on a map.

Origin

For the 10th edition of documenta the director Catherine David dedicated a part of the exhibition to net art and the artistic discourse around the internet. Under the curatorship of Simon Lamunière the documenta has created its very first website www.documenta.de, which combined pratical information for the visitors with an online exhibition.

As Joachim Blank and Karl Heinz Jeron were already known for their projects such as Handshake and Internationale Stadt Berlin the director invited them to create a new work. Together with Equator by Huber, Pocock, Noll and Wenz; unendlich, fast... by Holger Friese; Location Sculpture System by Wohlgemuth and Baumann and jodi.org by Heemskerk and Paesmans without addresses was exhibited on the website in the section Surfaces & Territories.

But the work was also exhibited in the Documenta Halle on two computers, where the visitors could sit down and interact with it.

Description

The start page of without addresses activated two applications. The first application opened a text input field with the simple call “Tell me who you are !”. The entered text was used as a search string for an automated online search using the Alta Vista search engine. The result of the online search was used to dynamically generate an individual HTML page. Visitors thus left a trace on the website. The search result was manipulated using different layout templates. Images were resized and converted to grey tones, texts on the page were displayed in generated handwriting.

The second application created a map from the generated HTML pages, which were represented by dots. The visitor's HTML pages were arranged on the map in a chronological order. Visitors could select one from the dots to view the previously generated pages. There was no additional navigation - the structure of the website was created by the interaction of the visitors. Every entry and every visit expanded the website in real time. The two-dimensional map, consisting of nodes, was the only instance of orientation in without addresses - the self-writing website had no addresses, no index.

Technical narrative

The artist Karl Heinz Jeron described the user journey and the technical flow in a technical narrative. The technical narrative of the viariant 1 has been visualised as a diagram.

Documentation

Documentation material about without addresses variant 1 was collected during the reconstruction project in 2024. There were two main sources of the documentation. In Joachim Blank's private archive we found analogue photographs and a short video footage of the documenta exhibition; screenshots of variant 1, 2A and 2B; scans of exhibition reviews; and copies of files of the variant 1. On Karl Heinz Jaron's external hard drive, we found a code repository for variant 1 and variant 3. During the reconstruction project the team also created new additional documentation. Karl Heinz Jeron described the original code and server setup. Tereza Havlíková and Sakrowski conducted a video interview with the two artists to document the context of the origin as well as the reception of the work almost thirty years later.

without addresses moves to different servers

At the end of the documenta X, the server on which the work was hosted had to be returned. From the beginning it was a concious decision by the artists that without addresses will be available in its full functionality only for the duration of the exhibition. However, they decided to move the entire artwork file to their own server.

without addresses [variant 2A]

item in wikibase	Q97
URL	http://icf.de/without_addresses

First Karl Heinz Jeron moved without addresses to the server of Internationale Stadt Berlin - another big project he and Joachim Blank were involved in. The viarant 2A was not able to generate any new entries because the crucial backend hardware was missing.

without addresses [variant 2B]

item in wikibase	Q96
URL	http://www.sero.org/without_addresses

After the Internationale Stadt Berlin was dissolved, without addresses was again moved to another server sero.org. Sero was a name that Joachim Blank and Karl Heinz Jeron used for their joint artistic projects after the end of Internationale Stadt Berlin. Just like the previous variant, viarant 2B was unable to generate any new user entries. The artists eventually lost the domain.

without addresses documenta CD [variant 3]

item in wikibase	Q175
inception	1997

During the exhibition in Kassel, the documenta team invited the artists in the net art section to adapt their work so that it could be published on a CD-ROM. After the end of the exhibition, without addresses was only available in its archived offline version on a small CD edition published by the documenta. The CD version was very limited and mainly served as an archive for selected user entries. It couldn’t convey the conceptual and technological complexity of the online version.

without addresses reconstruction and simulation [variant 4]

item in wikibase	Q159
inception	2024
URL	https://netzkunst.berlin/wa/

In 2024, the two artists, together with Zentrum für Netzkunst decided to revisit the canonical piece without addresses and reconstruct it for the public, a new generation of researchers, and art historians. The aim was to collect and document all available data, fragments of data, and secondary documentation material saved by the artists. The resulting repository, stored on wikibase, should allow for in-depth study of the work. In addition, a simulation of the variant 1 was created, allowing visitors to view the work in their contemporary browser. By emphasising the mediation of the work, visitors can experience the original 'feel' of the work to better understand the functionality and the conceptual framework of the variant 1 documenta version.

The conception, methods, and process of the reconstruction is documented on its own page without addresses (variant 4).