Eva and Franco Mattes Offer $1,000 for Smartphones Full of Personal Photos

Eva and Franco Mattes, known as 0100101110101101.org, have launched a new project seeking individuals willing to sell their smartphones—including all photos and videos—for $1,000. The selected phones will be used to create an artwork that will enter the permanent collection of a major New York City museum and be exhibited both online and offline globally. This initiative continues the artists' long-standing exploration of privacy, data sharing, and exhibitionism in the digital age, following earlier projects like Life Sharing (2000), where they opened their computer to the public 24/7, and The Others (2011), which displayed 10,000 random images from hundreds of people's computers. The new work shifts focus from sharing to exhibitionism, questioning whether exposing oneself for visibility and money is still controversial or has become normalized. The call requires smartphones with thousands of images taken over several years, to be handed over without deleting any content. The project is supported by Rhizome, a New York-based organization dedicated to new media art preservation and dissemination.