[MUSIC PLAYING]
My name is Rafael, Rafael Rozendaal.
We're in Amsterdam.
And this is the last day of my exhibition, "The Shift," which
is an exhibition that shows absolutely nothing, and we're
going to have a look at what that looks like.
Both my parents are artists, so it was kind of natural for
me to be drawing and painting, and all the
materials were in the house.
So it was very natural for me to go to art school and start
experimenting there.
I just noticed that when I started using the computer, I
really liked what came out of it.
So that's why I continued in that direction.
I got this tattoo because I was thinking, what's the most
important thing that happened in the world?
And I thought, well, the internet.
The base of my work is these moving images.
They're sometimes interactive and sometimes moving.
And the audience right now, it's about 12
million people a year.
This is my first website.
I made it in the year 2000.
I was very surprised that after I made that website, I
got a lot of response online.
And then a gallerist in Los Angeles said, why don't you
come over and show this, and maybe make a new piece?
And then I made this piece for that opening.
[FART NOISES]
So this was projected very big in the street, just a simple
mouse, and then just this projected in the gallery.
A lot of serious art around it, and then this one.
There's been a lot of representations of shit.
But because most artwork's with sculpture and painting,
you can't really depict farts.
So yeah.
New media.
"The Shift," basically the exhibition is this.
The room is dark-- there's light right now, but normally.
And then if you walk, you hear the sound of a mosquito.
So we just have an intern in the back
who watches the visitor.
And if the visitor's moving, presses on the sound, and if
the visitor stops, then nothing.
The interesting question, when people ask me what's the idea
behind it, is that you believe that you make something, but
there's actually more to it, that the work
is sort of a puzzle.
The work is a puzzle, and then you have to pass the work and
then get to the meaning, which I don't believe in.
I think the work is the meaning and the
meaning is the work.
So there's no bigger-- it's as big as you want to make it.
And I do analyze my work, but that's not very
important for you.
And then you can analyze it your way.
I never liked the idea of creating a unique object.
And then I make this beautiful drawing, and I sell the
drawing, and then I can't see it anymore.
And this just spreads everywhere.
And because of the domain name, you have a very
exclusive ownership.
It's a unique piece.
But at the same time, the work is accessible to everyone.
And when I sell websites, the collector also has to sign a
contract that the work has to remain public.
I'm staying here in Amsterdam this week, because I kind of
don't really have a home.
So this is my home for this week.
I didn't sleep much last night, because I
found a dead rat.
I kind of--
so I'm going to try to find another
place to sleep tonight.
Sometimes that works out, and you get a
really nice hotel room.
And sometimes you don't.
So that's part of the deal.
But yeah, this is my life.
[LAUGHTER]
I work on the computer, so I can be anywhere.
Usually, rent is cheaper in a tropical location, so I like
to go there.
And then I go for a while in Berlin or other places.
The computer was made to make your life portable, and I like
to live that way.
So this is my studio, my exhibition space, my meeting
room, my entertainment room.
Everybody lives in their laptop, but me, maybe even
more than others.
But yeah, this is it.
Right now, we're at the W139 again, the space that was all
empty for the mosquito.
And now the space is all full, and this is BYOB Amsterdam.
I always notice that making group
exhibitions is very difficult.
I also notice that all of my friends own projectors,
especially in Berlin, because people have big apartments and
they like to watch movies big.
So I figured, if everybody takes care of their own gear,
then we can make an exhibition in no time.
So now in about a year, there's been 48 editions
around the world, and it's just been moving rapidly.
For me, BYOB is just about the internet
jumping out of the machine.
This is what we're looking at all day, but then here, we can
see it all together in one room.
With BYOB, I took the approach, saying
everything is cool.
Let's just make chaos.
And then it has its own strength.
It's sort of like a thrift store.
So you have to dig through all the mess and
find what you like.
Minority Report.
There's a lot of crap, just like anywhere.
But that's kind of the fun of it.
If anyone in the world wants to do a BYOB,
they can just do it.
So that's the idea.