The Hater Box

May 30, 2021 11:54 AM

Voluntarily provocative, The Hater Box transforms the principle of old split flap displays into a random generator of contestations, cold and impersonal. [Parse/Error]

the hater box by french artist parse/error is a reflection on the politically correct
Meet The Hater Box, A Random Contestation Generator As An Answer To Social Networks
I Hate That I Love The Hater Box

posted by chavenet (14 comments total)

"fuck poors"

consider me provoked
posted by glonous keming at 12:01 PM on May 30, 2021 [4 favorites]

FUCK FEST
posted by Going To Maine at 12:08 PM on May 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I want one that just has the word CHOOSE and it cycles through the Trainspotting monologue.
posted by betweenthebars at 12:13 PM on May 30, 2021 [6 favorites]

Alternate possibilities:

• Picture of a guy in hotdog suit, face keeps changing.
• A big NO U flag.

posted by Going To Maine at 12:13 PM on May 30, 2021 [4 favorites]

What do they mean by “a reflection on the politically correct”? And how do they get away with making something like this in 2021 and not having “cancel culture” as one of the things that is fucked. That would be really edgy.
posted by mr_roboto at 12:31 PM on May 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

This may be one of three or four times that I've liked a work of art significantly more than the description. I'm very happy to add another. (I'm also not sure how much of that distinction is the artist's choice.)

Also, this needs a phone voting app. With QR codes on the museum wall.
posted by eotvos at 12:46 PM on May 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

Needs more prepositions.
posted by clavdivs at 1:05 PM on May 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

Also, this needs a phone voting app. With QR codes on the museum wall.

I kind of think the lack of control is part of the point, though. Like, it just exists to orient you as for or against something and provides you with no switches for dictating any discourse. You want to talk about X? No, I want to get mad about Y.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:13 PM on May 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure if this is profound or dumb. But I guess it can be read as a reflection/commentary on the inflammatory oversimplifications of something like Twitter.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:58 PM on May 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

So this is basically a makerspace version of the Twitter bot that used to exist, listing all the words from A-Z and prepending “fuck” to them?
posted by acb at 2:13 PM on May 30, 2021 [3 favorites]

I like a bit of mechanical sculpture as much as (probably more than) the next guy, but this is about as provocative and interesting as flipping randomly through a "Cards Against Humanity" deck, and a lot of the word choices aren't even as compelling as that. Is my monocle supposed to pop off because a machine said FUCK IT at me?
posted by rifflesby at 2:51 PM on May 30, 2021 [10 favorites]

An automated child who just learned the word 'fuck'. Not sure what I'm supposed to find novel, provocative, or really anything about that except sigh.
posted by ctmf at 7:59 PM on May 30, 2021 [5 favorites]

fuck this box

I tried, but security chased me out of the museum.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:27 AM on May 31, 2021 [4 favorites]

There's the kernel of an interesting idea here, but this feels more like a study than a finished work.

Seems to have been led more by the technical possibilities ("hey, I know how to build a flippy sign thing!") than by a ripe artistic idea.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 5:40 AM on May 31, 2021 [1 favorite]