 Hello everyone. Thank you for having me. My name is Simon Weckert. I'm a Berlin-based artist and in the beginning of the year I did a project which is called Google Maps Hex, which got a lot of attention in social media, in the news, and television. Today, I would like to give you a short introduction and a short insight about the project, what was my motivation, what is the technique behind it, and before I start with that, I would like to play a short video of the project, especially for the ones who don't know what I'm talking about here. So before I start, just a short introduction to myself, what is my background. I studied art at the University of Arts in Berlin, and there I was much more interested in digital computing, coding, electronics, and that's actually also, I would say, what I learned, and that's also what I'm interested in. So basically, in my artworks or in the topics I'm dealing with, I'm super interested in how technology influences how technology shapes our society. So one of my, let's say, sentences I'm always following is that at first we shape our tools and then they shape us, and at some point I truly believe in that. For example, how it shapes our language when we talk to each other, but also, of course, how it shapes mobility, how we move in the city, how we interact in society, and so on, by technology. And those are basically some leading questions and topics, what I'm trying to understand and to follow, and basically also make people aware of it, what technology means to us, what technology means to society, and also make topics specific and related to technology, let's say, open or understandable for people which are not so familiar with it. So therefore, one of the projects or one of the, yeah, basically, performances I did was the so-called Google Maps Hacks in the beginning of the year. And as you have seen in the video, what I did was basically I used a red wagon, like once, which is actually made for for for for Chaius, and I used 99 smartphones, put them into the wagon and was carrying those wagon behind me in the streets of Berlin. The special thing about it was that on the smartphones, they all were Android smartphones, so basically Google smartphones. There was also Google Maps running on it, but I will come to that specific point later on, because it might be possible that some of you are interested in, like how this technique behind works. But anyway, so basically I was carrying those 99 smartphones and behind me in the streets of Berlin, and by doing so, I was able to generate and virtual traffic on Google Maps service or basically in the navigation tool of Google Maps. So I got the idea for the performance during the first of my demonstration in Berlin. Basically every year in Berlin, on the first of May, there are huge protests and more basic demonstrations in the city of namely Kreuzberg and Neukölln, where people are going outside in the streets and they are fighting protesting for their labor rights. And I think it was like three years ago when I went to one of those protests and during that time I checked my smartphone, also the application Google Maps, and then I realized that at that time there were a lot of traffic in the streets of Berlin and that everywhere where the protests were going on. And then I thought like, oh wow, actually interesting that there is virtual traffic on Google Maps right now, because in fact right now there is no car at all on the street, there are just people working alongside the street. And then I thought like, wow, that's actually quite interesting to me to see like how Google is generating this virtual traffic and I thought like, might it be possible to reproduce that kind of effect. And it was for me quite clear that I don't need let's say a lot of people working alongside the street. Actually what I need is their smartphones to generate something similar to this. So this was basically the beginning for me to start or when it was starting to grow, to think of, okay, can I reproduce something like that by myself. This was then the point where everything started to think about, okay, how can I reproduce it. And the whole journey began for me like, okay, how can I get smartphones like super cheap? What do I need for that? For example, do I need for each smartphone one SIM card or could it also work with some kind of hotspot? It means that multiple smartphones are connected to one smartphone and does it means that this could also work that Google believes or thinks that, okay, there are let's say 10 smartphones, but in fact, they are all connected to one SIM card. So that was basically a lot of backward, further processes and tests going on. For me, the biggest thing was actually to get smartphones in general. I thought it might be quite easy to get secondhand smartphones, but in England I figured out it's actually not that easy. I mean, in Germany, I couldn't find like, let's say, you know, let's say providers which offered them cheap, very good, basically by them. So what I did was in the end, I asked a lot of friends if they could rent me their smartphone for one day. And I also got a pretty good contract to offer a smartphone rental station where you can rent a smartphone for one day. And then this was basically the way how I got 99 smartphones. 99 and that sense also stands for the Occupy movement in New York. And of course, there's also a link to the JC song 99 problems. And so for me, it was actually after I figured out okay, and actually this hack also works with less smartphones for me, it was pretty much my question. Okay, I need basically some kind of number, which is, you know, getting somehow rememberable or notable in social media. And that was the reason why I came up with 99 smartphones. So there's for example, here an important fact is that you don't need 99 smartphones, it can also work, for example, 50. And I have always also seen people, let's say copycats on YouTube, and they use 2025 smartphones. So therefore here it makes sense to point out that it's basically the question where you're going to want or where you want to and produce and virtual traffic. So to me, it looks like this, you can use less smartphones to produce a virtual traffic when you're, let's say on the country side, compared to when you're in the city with the potential that let's say cars are passing by where you're going to carry the and waiting with the smartphones behind you. Then it seems to make sense to have more and smartphones in the way. So that's actually what I learned or basically what I figured out and doing my test phase. And so yeah, basically, then for me, it was like, okay, what I learned is okay, let's say to produce something like this in Berlin, I learned that I need around 50. But then of course, also came to my mind, okay, basically, I would like to place that somehow, let's say in the social media, I would like to have some kind of, let's say, clue that people remember that. And that was the reason and why I came up with 99. So what was my main motivation behind the project? So I would say that there are multiple reasons or motivations behind them. But I think like one of them, probably the biggest one is the map in general, and that sends the digital map. And let's say the paradigm change compared to analog maps, which we had back in the days. So I mean, imagine that probably if you ask somebody think about the map, then I would say that for 80 or 90% of the people, what pops out in their mind is probably a digital map, for example, Google Maps, right? But this wasn't always like this, of course. And like back in the days, we had analog printed maps. And those maps have been shaped, those maps have been produced, and those maps have been, of course, let's say controlled, manipulated as well, by most of the time states and military. So they used it for specific purposes, they used it for an instrument to argue. And I mean, of course, they used it, for example, to divide countries to divide areas. And basically, they have been used as an instrument for power, for control. And well, regarding this, and having a look at the maps we have today, I thought, okay, actually, something is going on here, which basically I see as a paradigm change, in case of regards to the, let's say, power to the control to the influence of those maps, which means that back in the days, we had the military, we had the state. And now we have pretty much more, I would say, private companies, which are defining how those maps are looks like. And this to me generates, of course, questions like, okay, we have these maps, the digital maps, but then where does those standard comes from? How transparent is the system? How can I, as a user of those maps, shape it, especially also, let's say, yeah, also as well, how can I manipulate it? And how open is the system, especially from a democratic point of view, right? So in that sense, I think it's worth it to have a closer look what digital maps, especially Google maps, means to us these days, and also, yeah, how I think it's shaping how it's influencing our everyday life. So the advent of Google's Geo2 began in 2005 with maps built up and followed by Street View in 2007. And they have since become enormously, enormously more technology advanced. Google's virtual maps have little in common with classical analog maps. The most significant difference is that Google Maps are interactive, scrollable, searchable, and zoomable. And Google's map services has fundamentally changed our understanding of what a map is, how we interact with maps, their technology limitation, and how they look aesthetically. So in this fashion, Google Maps makes virtual changes to the real city. Applications such as Airbnb and car sharing have an immense impact on cities. On their housing market and mobility culture, for instance. There's also a major impact on how we find a romantic partner thanks to a dating platform, such as Tinder, and on our self-quantifying behavior thanks to the Nike Joking app. Or map-based food delivery apps like Deliveroo or Fedura. All of these apps function via interfaces with Google Maps and create new forms of digital capitalism. And without these maps, car sharing systems, new taxi apps, bike rental systems, and online transport agency services such as Uber would be unthinkable. An additional mapping market is provided by self-driving cars. And again, Google has already established a position for itself. With its geotools, Google has created a platform that allows users and businesses to interact with maps in a novel way. This means that questions relating to power and discourse of category have to be reformulated. But what is the relation between the art of enabling and techniques of supervision, control, and regulation in Google Maps? Do these maps function as a dispositive net that determines the behavior, opinions, and images of living being, exercising power, and controlling knowledge? So as an example, think about protest demonstrations in a city. So let's say, I think the main purpose for demonstrations or protest is to interrupt the everyday life of people living in a city, right? So when you go out in the street, you're going to block the street, and that means you would like to interrupt their, usually daily, let's say, business and to make them aware of something, what you're fighting for, what you're protesting for. So let's imagine that we have a navigation system like Google Maps. That means that cars and let's say, tourists, in-cars, people living in the city, driving in the city are getting rerouted around that demonstration because of this navigation system, because the navigation system is saying you, yeah, actually, there is some traffic in front of you, so I'm going to show you a better route to your destination. But what happened then is that you in a car, sitting in a car, driving in a car, you will never get aware of what happened. They are in front of you into the street, like basically what happened there, let's say, when people, let's say, farmers and are protesting for better milk prices or so on and so on. So you will never get to know actually what's going on there because you will actually not get that and their people protesting there in front of you. And that for me is actually kind of, let's say, dangerous, let's say, effect because that means that, therefore, it's somehow cutting one of our democratic tools we have, which is basically the democratic or the protest culture, the demonstration culture, where we are able to go out and say something out loud. And I think there I see a kind of a danger, let's say, Google needs to work on to, yeah, to basically implement this and that into their cities that even if you are getting re-routers, that you already get some kind of indication why you are basically getting re-routed. So is it because of a traffic? Or might it be possible there is, for example, demonstration going on? And if there's a demonstration going on, what kind of demonstration is it? So I think that's, for example, like a pretty interesting, let's say, yeah, side effect which comes up when we're going to use tools like Google Maps. Another effect that comes with Google Maps service, especially with the traffic feature, is that imagine that there is a highway and there is a traffic, then the navigation system tells me, okay, I found a shorter, faster route around it. And therefore, you will get getting re-routed, for example, to a smaller city or let's say an area with smaller streets. And that actually creates or could create much more traffic compared to let's wait 20 minutes, 30 minutes, until this traffic got sold. So basically what happened is, and that's quite interesting for me, quite interesting friction, what I see there between, let's say, those digital tools in the analog world, is that, for example, our cities, our streets, most of the time, they are not made for a huge amount of, let's say, cars, right? And when we're going to use these navigation systems, and we're going to get re-routed by those navigation systems to, let's say, smaller cities, that means that the amount of cars, which I get re-routed, are actually creating much more traffic in that area, because this area is actually not made for that many cars. So therefore, for me, it means that, actually, it needs to be also something implemented into this services that is also basically realizing, okay, this route actually makes sense to you, but it also realizes that when it's going to send, let's say, 100 cars there, then it actually will create much more traffic or it will create much more problems in that area compared to, say, okay, look, just basically wait 20, 30 minutes, and this might probably, might be better, might be faster for you instead of going to link around it. So these are just a few examples where I think that digital maps will shape our, let's say, way how we move, how we interact, for example, in urban space, in a city, in the near future, and I mean, maybe as another example or as a last example, I would like to give you also, let's say, for, let's say, kind of a future view is that, as we all know, Pokemon Go, Pokemon Go in the background is also using Google Maps services to locate, basically to locate Pokemons in the area where you are, and there are reports that are saying that there's a cooperation between, for example, restaurants or some kind of, let's say, businesses, and Pokemon Go talking to each other through the Google Maps service to means that, for example, McDonalds talk to Pokemon Go to tell them, like, look, could you probably place pretty raw Pokemons in front of our store, of course, with the main motivation that the users of the applications will probably have a look or go into the store once they are standing in front of it. So therefore, we see that it's not just like this, that we are going to using Google Maps, as we know it in an application, it actually also lies behind a lot of services and it's going to be used by, let's say, a lot of things we probably use every day, like post delivery, I mean, police is using it, and of course, as I already mentioned, specific delivery services and so on. So therefore, I see a lot of, let's say, let's say, control and then power influence by Google when we are talking about how these tools shape our everyday life. So this was pretty much more, let's say, my motivation and what I was interested in in this project. And now I would like to give you a short insight of what happened when I published the project and basically, let's say, the afterthought of it. And probably also maybe some kind of stuff like how it went by when it's on. So the thing is, or one important, I think, what I think why it went so well was one important fact is that I published the project one week before the 50th birthday of Google Maps. So I was aware of that, probably a lot of, or that was quite clear of me that a lot of journalists and newspapers, they would write about the Google Maps birthday, and they would write about something like, okay, these service has a lot of influence in our everyday life and how it shaped and so on and so on, our everyday life. And I wanted also to give those journalists and newspapers, let's say, another few about this service, and also somehow, let's say, show them the downside of it. And that was the reason why I published this project one week before the before the birthday, so that they basically took it into their articles and to write about it. And that was also basically the whole journey, because after I published it, I got so many interviews and basically had to write a lot of emails and so on and so on. And this was actually for me quite a long, long learning process, how to deal with the media and also, let's say, how to make it as easy and understandable as possible for a wider audience. And let's say one of the most, let's say, the question that I got most was that if Google basically wrote me or got in contact with me, and that's not the case, but they gave an statement, I think it was, it was in the Guardian, where they said, where Google's spokesperson said, whether we are car or cars or camel, we love to see creative users of Google Maps, as it helps us to make maps work better over time. And so I think they took it in a kind of sporty way and basically now, I guess, they are trying to work on it, that this kind of, let's say, hack doesn't happen in the future. I personally think that they might not be able to fix that because, for example, what I did to, let's say, trick the algorithm was that I was simulating some kind of stock and go behavior with the Reagan. That means that I was carrying the Reagan behind me and from time to time I was running, then I was basically standing there, going slower, and then basically I had this kind of, let's say, unregular rhythm during I was walking in the street of Berlin. And what I also did was that I also spent sometimes half an hour or was it 40 minutes at one place and basically was, you know, working forward, backward on one spot, especially, for example, in front of the Google headquarters in Berlin. So therefore, I think I'm not sure if they are able to track something like this because when they are able to track some kind of behavior, then it also means that, for example, demonstration of protests might be not being tracked by Google. So basically, I think there are then, especially in this kind of real problem for them because when they are saying they're going to solve this kind of box, it also means that there probably cannot be, there will not be able to, let's say, track a lot of people walking on the side of the street, like protests, for example. So therefore, I'm curious to see if Google will solve this problem in the future. And for sure, I will do another test maybe this year, maybe next year. And yeah, well, I think what's worth it to mention is that as we know that usually this kind of box, I mean, of course, we can debate it if it is basically a hack or a bug or not. But of course, it's somehow, I would say, let's say, a problem which they have to solve. But when I would say, especially in this kind of techie where if somebody finds this kind of box, then they're gonna, and deal with it in a much more, let's say, behind the curtain situation. So basically, a broader audience will not notice something or basically will never get, let's say, in touch with something like that. And I think what this performance that it makes that unique is that I was using, let's say, a technique or let's say, a metaphor story, which is like super easy to understand for everybody, even if he or she is not familiar with this, let's say, technology in a way. Because, you know, everybody knows Google Maps. And therefore, I guess, most of them also basically use those navigation systems. And they can highly imagine how this kind of basically could could work, right? Because you have to say that to generate virtual traffic, there are multiple ways. So I also came across with software or basically with an idea of to to write a program, a little application to it. But then I thought, yeah, actually, like for to make it understandable and to make it readable for the audience, it needs to be, let's say, easier in a way to read. Because, of course, I mean, most of the people, let's say, a lot of people, they for them, algorithms and this kind of stuff is actually too abstract to understand. So and that was the main reason why I thought, okay, it needs another technique, it needs another, let's say, yeah, a story to to or method to tell the story. And this was also the reason why I I've chosen the red dragon with the with the smartphones in it, and not taking the way by to write them, yeah, to write an algorithm to write an application, just doing that for me. So I think that's it. I will end my presentation here. I hope it gives you a bit of an insight about the maturation and why I did the project. And I am happy to for Q&A in the chat. And yeah, see you later. Have a great day.