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With the Light Installation „Gold or Love“ („Two Souls…“). mbeam would like to draw attention to the persisting actuality of Goethes grand work „Faust“, because the drama is more relevant today than ever.
mbeam decided, to put Sergey Brin, the President of Alphabet, Googles parent company, into the spotlight. Google can be viewed as the digitalization of Dr. Faust´s search for universal knowledge. Knowledge is power. And Google is real. Google is Larry Page and Sergey Brin, its creators. They have power and money. An unbelievable quantity of money. But are they loved for their achievements?
There he hangs, Sergey Brin, in front of the creative office of mbeam. He seems dynamic and determined in his suit and t-shirt outfit. Riding in style on top of an illuminated globe, naturally equipped with a Google-Glass. Suddenly he is material. His physical presence let him appear less threatening, yes, almost fragile. That´s what he looks like. Which is he now, good or evil?
Controversial questions and quotes are projected onto his body and around him, with the aim of inspiring spectators to reflect upon the state of the world and at the same time to demonstrate: Goethes work hasn´t lost any of its actuality. “Gold or Love?” “Two souls, alas, are living in my chest” “Don’t be evil”
Google never wanted to be evil. In fact “Don’t be evil” was the companies motto for a long time. But Google also stands for power and money, fed by the data of all mankind. What does Google know exactly about everyone of us? What exactly do they do with our data?
These questions can now be asked directly to the sculpture, which has been created by the sculptor Andreas Pfenninger. But don´t expect any answers, neither expect any from Google if you ask how their search algorithms actually work.
Does Sergey Brin love his gold? Is he happy now, being one of the richest men on earth? Or has his work already spun of and became autonomous?
Who asks Sergey the all-important (Gretchen´s) question?