Four images competed against each other. The first only retained its right corner, showing a roof peeking out from lush greenery and extending over the second image, an industrial fragment, too small to be identified. Both are intersected by the third image, of which only abstract contours remain. Dominant for the entire ensemble is the fourth image, which also exists only in outline, but can still be clearly recognized as a house.
A brief competition of the images themselves: found material, algorithmic subtraction, my own handwriting. A game to sharpen my eye. The search engine query was:
NEW WORLD ORDER
Webslam is an experimental image competition. between found material and one's own work. An algorithmic approaching script analyzes and subtracts color components, creates transparencies and collaged image fragments, which were subsequently processed in analog printing processes.
This work was created in 2011 from data automatically found via a script. Internet images for the search term "New World Order" . The result was printed using a black and white laser printer on 200 g/m² paper. Printed on smooth paper, colored using stencil printing, and then manually edited.
What is Webslam?
Webslam - competition of found images
In German, the term "slam" refers to a competition. a back-and-forth. This is precisely the principle behind the project. Webslam is based on the following: Four images found compete against each other for a given keyword.
A specially developed script analyzes each image and separates its color components. These colors are then subtracted from each other. For example, if an image contains a high proportion of yellow, it eliminates the yellow areas of another image with a lower proportion of yellow. The removed areas become transparent. In some cases, this process results in an image being completely erased – it becomes 100% transparent.The fragmented image remnants that result are then compared to a randomly selected work from my own image archive – under identical conditions. The entire process takes place exclusively virtually before any results are saved or output.
Over time, I have experimented with different rules and parameters and realized three variants of the Webslam:
Laser printing on stencil printing
The result of the slam was broken down into contours and printed out. For
each color, I created a separate stencil, which I used to transfer the color areas
manually onto paper. The result was then passed through the laser printer again
and the slam result was superimposed in black and white
High-resolution collage print files
My own digitized works served as the primary source. A script
also searched for suitable images on the Internet. If these were
too low in resolution, they were automatically converted into vector graphics
. After comparing them with my original image,
a high-resolution, separated print file was created. The prints were laminated onto
Kappa boards and each was supplemented with hand-painted graffiti elements.
Camgirls – the original slam
The idea for the web slam came about in 2010, in the context of early social platforms
where people competed for attention live. Many of the women broadcasting there
deliberately presented themselves in a fragmentary way: their gaze
deviated from the image, and there was a tension between closeness and distance. It
was less about eroticism than about presence, observation, and self-assertion
in digital space.
During short live sessions, I selected one conversation partner at a time and made quick, expressive drawings of her spatial situation. These works form the series Camgirls and mark the starting point of the Webslam principle.
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- We can accommodate special requests (frame type, frame color, mat core with black cut edge, mat color, special sizes); please contact us by email.
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Miscellaneous
Get to know Johann Franki alias Frank Olsowski better onarteurope.de and gain a deeper understanding of his work.
From a fleeting stroke to a lasting impression
Since the 1980s, Johann Franki has been working with fast watercolors and light projections – his lines are created in transition, live, in motion, often on an overhead projector.
Trained at art school, deepened in social work: the decisive moment is the moment in which image and gaze meet.
These sheets come from the ongoing process – they don’t tell a story, they are one.
The flowing image
Overhead projector performance by Johann Franki
With the overhead projector, Johann Franki has found an analog medium that combines painting with movement – live, direct, and surprising. His images emerge in the moment and do not stagnate: they flow, transform, and disappear.
More impressions will be available soon on the YouTube channel.
