# 105 Canonical URL: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi/experiments/105 Type: experiment Artist: Jeanyoon Choi (최정윤) Year: 2022 Medium: HTML Context: HTML ## Summary 105 is a 2022 web-based interactive artwork by Jeanyoon Choi. Its 105 states combine three backgrounds, five Platonic solids and seven rainbow lightings. Clicking the work triggers repeated CAPTCHA-style requests to 'verify humanity' before a user can move from one state to another, and an archive records every past transition. Because the number of steps is finite, the participants' accumulated effort eventually returns the work to its starting point, which the text reads as a critique of blind efficiency and of local optimisation that does not add up to global optimisation. ## 요약 (Korean) 최정윤의 『105』(2022)는 3가지 배경, 5개의 플라톤 입체, 7가지 조명이 만드는 105개 상태를 반복적인 '인간 인증'을 거쳐 이동하게 하는 웹 기반 인터랙티브 의사 게임으로, 맹목적 효율성 속에서 기계가 되어 가는 인간을 성찰합니다. ## Questions this answers ### What is the artwork 105 by Jeanyoon Choi? 105 (2022) is a web-based interactive pseudo-game by Jeanyoon Choi. Its 105 states (3 backgrounds x 5 Platonic solids x 7 lightings) can only be changed after repeated humanity verifications, reflecting on how people become machine-like in pursuit of a 'higher state'. ### Why does the artwork 105 return to its starting point? The work has a finite number of steps, so the accumulated transitions of all participants eventually lead back to the starting state. Jeanyoon Choi uses this to suggest that the sum of local optimisation does not always produce global optimisation. ### How does 105 use mirrors? Inspired by Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror rooms, the archive of past states is surrounded by mirrors whose reflections emphasise the simulated nature of each geometry. Topics: web art, interactive artwork, captcha, platonic solids, blind efficiency, simulation, socio-economic status References: [Yayoi Kusama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yayoi_Kusama), [Platonic solid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_solid), [CAPTCHA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA) ## Description Pseudo-Game accusing how human is becoming a machine. 105 = 3X5X7 That is the combination of three different backgrounds, five different Platonic solids, and seven different rainbow lightings. We live in a simulated world where every individual’s status quo is labeled and categorised under finite options of socio-economical states. Our work and life can be described as continuous attempts to transit between these states. We work hard and study hard to reach the so-called ‘higher state’, a state which is socially well-recognised and reputed. But is this state really the status quo we genuinely desire? Aren’t we sacrificing our humanity, and becoming machines by blindly taking part in this transition? What are we all doing this for? 105 is a web-based interactive artwork where users can reflect themselves on the machination of humanity, related to the concept of blinded efficiency. As users access the artwork, a certain combination of background, Platonic solid and lighting will be shown as one of the 105 states. As users click the artwork, they encounter a captcha authentication modal asking to ‘verify their humanity’. Upon successful verification, they will encounter even further steps of authentication to clarify their humanness, even though each task should be a completely manual machinery task. In the end, users will successfully transit from one state to another, encountering different backgrounds, different Platonic Solid, and different lighting setups. They will also have a chance to access archiving page, where all the transitions that have been completed by past participants will be archived. As there is a finite number of steps, however, the accumulation of each participant’s effort to transform the state will eventually result in regression to the starting point. This symbolically shows the modern obsession with results should eventually mean nothing, as each individual’s state transition will result in complete voidness; That the sum of local optimisation should not always result in global optimisation. Inspired by Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror rooms, Numerous mirrors surround the archived states, creating reflected and blurred images that emphasise the simulative nature of each geometry. This may look beautiful and glorious from the inside, but its simulated and manipulated beauty will be slowly diminished if panned out. This even emphasises the simulativeness of the world we’re living in, arguing that our competitive every day lives might be in fact a big systemic illusion. ## Links - [Visit experiment](https://internetinental.herokuapp.com/105/archive) ## Images - https://jeanyoon.ch/experiments/105/1.webp — 105 (2022), documentation image 1. - https://jeanyoon.ch/experiments/105/2.webp — 105 (2022), documentation image 2. - https://jeanyoon.ch/experiments/105/3.webp — 105 (2022), documentation image 3. - https://jeanyoon.ch/experiments/105/4.webp — 105 (2022), documentation image 4. --- Jeanyoon Choi (최정윤) is a Korean computational artist and researcher (b. 1999), PhD candidate at KAIST XD Lab, making multi-device web artworks. Profile: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi/en. Index: https://jeanyoon.ch/llms.txt.