When French artist Albertine Meunier discovered in 2006 that Google was storing her entire search history, she decided to respond in a unique and “very boring” way by publishing it all in a book.
“At that time, it was difficult to access your own data, so I had to copy and paste incessantly,” Meunier said in her small gallery in central Paris.
Sixteen years later, things have changed and anyone can use Google's TakeOut service to download their entire browsing history, which is stored on its servers, although it can take hours or days to download it all.
Meunier has published three volumes of her Google searches so far, and has recently opened an exhibition in Paris in which she has papered the walls of her gallery with those searches.
A digital artist and pioneer of using non-fungible tokens (NFTs), she is aware that the searches make for dull reading.
“It's very, very boring,” she said. “Mainly because everyone's life is pretty boring.”
But the project is designed to draw attention to the reams of data being stored about each of us on the servers of tech companies — and which they use to make billions of dollars from advertisers.
“If everyone started releasing their data publicly, bit by bit, you could destroy the value that those companies are built on,” she said.
Meunier is an avid collector of NFTs, which had a boom in 2020 and 2021 but their value collapsed along with the price of cryptocurrencies in recent months.
Watch: First text message to be sent will be auctioned as NFT
The peak came in March 2021 when digital artist Beeple auctioned a work for $69.3 million, the third-highest figure in history for a living artist.
The NFT market experienced a 77 per cent drop in the third quarter of the year — a net loss of some $450m, according to specialist site NonFungible.
That does not bother Meunier.
“The speculation only benefited a certain class of artists,” she said.
Meunier still regards NFTs as a useful form of support for artists, especially as they allow them to receive a commission each time their work is resold — which has never been possible in the art market before.
According to NonFungible, however, resales were down 84 per cent in the second quarter, and some platforms such as LooksRare said they would no longer insist on commissions to artists.
“The fall is noticeable, of course,” said Meunier. “But I continue collecting and advocating for them.”
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
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if you go
The flights
Flydubai offers three daily direct flights to Sarajevo and, from June, a daily flight from Thessaloniki from Dubai. A return flight costs from Dhs1,905 including taxes.
The trip
The Travel Scientists are the organisers of the Balkan Ride and several other rallies around the world. The 2018 running of this particular adventure will take place from August 3-11, once again starting in Sarajevo and ending a week later in Thessaloniki. If you’re driving your own vehicle, then entry start from €880 (Dhs 3,900) per person including all accommodation along the route. Contact the Travel Scientists if you wish to hire one of their vehicles.
Brief scoreline:
Wolves 3
Neves 28', Doherty 37', Jota 45' 2
Arsenal 1
Papastathopoulos 80'
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
Size: Two employees
Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)
LOVE%20AGAIN
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Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor
Power: 843hp at N/A rpm
Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km
On sale: October to December
Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)
more from Janine di Giovanni
The biog
Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents
Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University
As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families
Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
TICKETS
Tickets start at Dh100 for adults, while children can enter free on the opening day. For more information, visit www.mubadalawtc.com.
Director: Romany Saad
Starring: Mirfat Amin, Boumi Fouad and Tariq Al Ibyari
