Ola

Bonati

Portolio

Ola is a researcher and storyteller working on topics ​exploring concepts such as digital monopolies,

platform labor, implications of AI used in policing, digital ​habits, various meme vernaculars, and more. She has an ​experience in the field of New Media Design and Digital ​Transformation, a combination of which she uses in her ​practice.

She presented her research, copywriting, and design ​projects and reached a wider audience at events like ​Dutch Design Week, Fiber Festival, The Next Web, IAM ​weekend, Ars Electronica, IMPAKT festival, The Hmm, and ​Zine Camp. In her recent work, she began exploring AI ​technologies and their applications in various layers of ​society, focusing on underrepresented groups and those ​typically left out of the conversation.

12/05/23

Talking Aesthetics: Fiber Festival

The discussion is growing but this time at the Fiber ​festival during the Audiovisual Assembly.

Inspired by this presentation by Aymeric Mansoux and ​Brendann Howel, I dove into design aesthetics and its ​influence on the sensory divide between consumers - ​us- and tech landfills.

It was a blast having a circle of active participants ready ​to question their own relationship with the sleek ​surfaces and ever-elusive insides of digital devices.

07/05/23

Lukas Engelhardt and I gave a workshop during the ​Critical Infrastructure Lab launch at the University of ​Amsterdam.

"Led by fieke jansen, niels ten oever, and maxigas, the ​lab will bring together activists, advocates, scholars, ​policymakers, and industry actors. Three analytical ​lenses of standards, geopolitics, and environment will ​be applied to build an evidence base, investigate and ​develop infrastructural imaginaries, and create ​actionable research for infrastructures that serve the ​public interest...."

During our workshop, we introduced permacomputing ​principles and why each of us got interested in this ​community. Lukas started with interactive visualization, ​Are You Working in the Dark,his previous work with Paul ​Bille.

We roped our audience into playing Crappy Everyday ​Tech bingo, aka the permcomputing bingo again. ​Miseries were shared, frustrations flew, and support was ​offered.

28/10/22

The First Permacomputing event

Over the last few months, I have been working with a ​great team of researchers, designers, and media ​practitioners on building the permacomputing ​community and the related wiki.

We are currently working on making the ​permacomputing wiki more accessible and organized. ​The goal is to create a solid base for the series of ​workshops we plan to host in spring 2023, for which we ​are all very excited.

Meanwhile, this October I and Aymeric Mansoux hosted ​the very first intro to the general principles behind ​permacomputing. During the event we played an ​interactive session of permacomputing bingo (crappy ​tech bingo) at Zine Camp in Rotterdam.

Thanks to the audience participation, we gathered ​insights on some of the shared annoyances with 'crappy ​tech' we all deal with every day. And since winning this ​bingo doesn't really mean you win, I baked some cookies ​for participants to sweeten the day and minimize ​frustrations.

More about permacomupting very soon!

Googless

The most annoying plugin ever created

Research

Curious how it would be to browse the internet without ​any trace of Google?

Googless team created the most annoying plugin.

The ad campaign promises that the Googless plugin will ​work by blocking Google services on the websites ​visited by the user. In reality, that means blocking the ​website altogether, which is the only way one could ​actually have a Googless experience visiting a site with ​implemented Google services. This experience is meant ​to illustrate the impossible task of escaping Google in ​today's web surfing experience. Businesses, ​entrepreneurs and regular internet users at the mercy ​of one unstoppable tech giant.

We anticipate users will quickly get annoyed not being ​able to browse the web freely. Once the users are ​done using our plug-in, they are offered to learn more ​about the world of online monopolies. The plug-in ​works to spark frustration and offer to channel it to ​message (via our site) representatives in EU to further ​complain about the lack of alternatives.

How can we protect freedom and ​agency in monopolized online ​spaces?

Googless is a multidisciplinary project under the wing ​of IMPAKT and The School of Machines focusing on the ​issue of big tech monopolies and specifically on Google ​as one of the most prominent examples. By revealing ​the omnipresence of tracking tools, Googless hopes to ​influence how we approach our digital rights and ​inspire those in charge of protecting them to take a ​stand against data hoarding and unfair market ​practices.

Digital nostalgia

return to the temporary

ongoing project by Ola Bonati (research&concept) and ​Deniz Kurt (design)

In the early days of the personal computer era, ​digital space felt exciting, full of possibilities, and ​somewhat comforting in how manageable (?) it was.

Traces of your actions in the digital world did not ​leave outside of the immediate space you took up, ​you were not traced. You could simply just restart ​your computer and start anew.

Or was that ever true?

How much of your own personal narrative online have ​you built up since then and why do continue to ​produce and keep all that information? Are you able ​to let go of some of that nostalgic documentation ​that happened via online channels throughout the ​years?

The installation aims to trigger the nostalgic feeling ​for what the first digital experience used to be and ​help the audience make a decision between keeping ​(storing) memories and moving on. The installation ​is twofold.

The room

We aim to build a space that, upon entry initially ​conveys the safety and familiarity of the early ​digital era. When moving to the center of the room, ​the visitors will be invited to play a seemingly ​simple game on a stationary computer.

The game

The game will be designed in the 8-bit style and ​with simple rules. The user will have to go

through several levels, and after each level, more ​data describing users' actions in the game will be ​generated and projected on the walls, gradually ​filling up the room.

In this way, we will destroy the innocence and ​coziness of the room. By showing the amassing data ​that each move makes, we will take the user away ​from the nostalgia and obsessive holding onto ​memories and false comfort. The installation will ​confront its visitors on how much their digital ​habits and their environment have changed since ​the times of glory of the artifacts present in the ​room.

Public opinion is still divided between tech ​enthusiasts praising the capabilities of AI ​technology and those deeming it to be the doom of ​our society. Because of these dual and often ​conflicting approaches to AI technology, the debate ​is usually reduced to human vs. machine discourse. ​And while it is a valid concern to explore, we would ​like to see how we can add more depth to this ​discussion by finding ways AI technology can be ​used/abused in propaganda and quasi-journalistic ​pursuits.

Often digital tools that we are so quick to adapt ​affect systems and institutions that traditionally ​were made to work at human speed and not ​according to the pace and capacity of mass-scale ​digital technologies.

In our artistic practice, we aim to explore this ​duality by researching theory, methods, and ways ​of experimentation and eventually creating a ​prototype that engages the public in this debate. ​We want to go as far as to shape whole narratives ​convincing enough to remain undetected by both ​human and non-human validators. By focusing our ​efforts on maximizing the potential behind these ​publicly accessible tools, we want to explore the ​ways in which we regain agency over generative ​content.

AI imaginaries

Clashing imaginaries in the perception of AI

Research

During my time at the Digital Society School, I had a ​chance to work with a multidisciplinary team of ​researchers, designers, and programmers.

Our project in collaboration with the Dutch Police ​aimed to find out about people's perception of AI ​systems used in policing.

Our goal was to explore the imaginaries around AI ​technologies and conflicts that arise between ​stakeholders.

Though some of the AI used in policing today must ​be viewed and critically assessed a lot of it is still ​far from what people imagine. There is a growing ​gap in knowledge of AI and implementation of this ​technology is only accelerating. Public institutions ​like the police should work towards increasing ​transparency of their current and future use of ​these technologies.

Our prototype, The Time Machine experience, was ​presented during The Next Web conference, where ​many attendees had a chance to try it out. The ​prototype aimed to discover the most significant ​gaps in knowledge about AI technologies.

Later on, the outcome of our research and design ​process was welcomed at the Dutch Design Week ​during the DRIVE festival. I was happy to present it ​as a part of The Future of Policing panel.

The blok

Community building via IoT devices

Research & Concept

With its luring screens and attention-grabbing ​notifications, modern technology seems to provide a ​great excuse to avoid connecting with others. I thought it ​is important to create a medium that would do the ​opposite.​​​​​​​

The Blok is an IoT device collecting data on the use of ​resources in your household: water, waste, electricity, ​air, etc. To find out about the data collected by the Blok ​you can bring it to the lobby, corridor, or entrance ​space and combine it with your neighbor’s bloks, thus ​creating a puzzle of sorts. Once other people bring in ​their bloks, the front sides would activate with color or ​pattern showing the state of the entire community's ​sustainability progress.

Passion projects

Interactive art and perfomance

Before the pandemic and hopefully soon again I co-​design, build and perform in interactive theatrical ​pieces as a part of the At Worlds End collective. It ​was and still is a passion for me more than a source ​of income. Our community is rebuilding and planning ​to create new projects in the next months.

Past projects:

Tree Museum - installation placed in the Dutch forest ​where visitors were invited to reimagine trees as ​extinct species

Strammerdam - theatrical installation inviting ​visitors to experience an oppressive world centered ​around a cult of one person.

Floating Molecules- Dance piece exploring the issues ​with regaining connection in the post-pandemic ​relaity.