The data volume of the internet is estimated to be 2.1 zetabyte and increases continually with every day. Millions of users cruise through this ocean of data on a daily basis. On these cruises all proponents find the data they were searching for and in their turn may also leave behind useful data for others. For years consumers have been celebrated as prosumers and have submerged themselves in a world of ascertainment, clustering and finding.

The installment BlackBox critically challenges the phenomenon of data flow permeability. BlackBox accepts a random selection of data from an input source as provided by an operating user and following a randomisation process returns other data to this user. Questions such as „Who will receive my file?“, „How will this interaction proceed?“, „Do I make myself known or do I remain anonymous?“ are triggered. Additionally, BlackBox creates its own collection of data from the files being put in, and in itself will eventually become a representative sample, a pool, generated by all its users, which will allow – given suitable numbers and variance of in- and out put patterns – hypothesizing about what it happening inside Black Box.

BlackBox is an abstract time and space capsule, filled with individual digital messages in a bottle just waiting to be plucked from this ocean and interpreted individually.