Novelty Products as Technological Testing Grounds and Algorithmic Design Frontiers
From 2000 to 2001, the animatronic Big Mouth Billy Bass sold millions, showcasing how novelty items can mask true technological advancements. This plastic fish employed low-cost sensors, programmed chips, and mechanics. Novelty items explore technological potential and pricing, evolving to incorporate machine intelligence. Offensive T-shirts with phrases like 'Keep Calm and Hit Her' were produced by Amazon's algorithms. Artist Eric Drass, known as Shardcore, designed 'Hipsterbait' T-shirts featuring mismatched band names and images through an algorithm. Netflix studied the viewing patterns of 33 million subscribers to create House of Cards, inspired by the original 1990 BBC miniseries. Often lacking in utility or luxury appeal, novelty products thrive on market economics. This article was published in ArtReview in December 2014.
Key facts
- Big Mouth Billy Bass sold millions of units between 2000 and 2001
- Novelty products combine technology like sensors and programmed chips with low-cost production
- Offensive algorithmically-generated T-shirts appeared on Amazon with slogans like 'Keep Calm and Hit Her'
- Artist Eric Drass (Shardcore) created an algorithm to produce 'Hipsterbait' T-shirts
- Netflix's House of Cards remake was informed by analysis of 33 million subscribers' viewing habits
- Novelty products operate without traditional utility, relying solely on novelty for market success
- Innovation in technology economies inevitably produces redundancy and items destined for landfill
- The article was first published in December 2014 in ArtReview
Entities
Artists
- Eric Drass
- Shardcore
- Bobby McFerrin
- Al Green
- Joshua Oppenheimer
- Kevin Spacey
- David Fincher
Institutions
- Amazon
- Netflix
- BBC
- ArtReview
Locations
- Indonesia