Miranda July Launches Participatory, Interactive Art Application “Somebody”

August 29th, 2014


Miranda July’s Somebody app, via Miranda July

Artist Miranda July has announced a unique new app design, titled Somebody, which uses active participants and users to deliver messages to other users rather than receive a standard text-based message or email.  Developed in conjunction with fashion label Miu Miu and launched at the Venice Film Festival, Somebody allows users to send prompts out to a network of nearby users, prompting them to deliver a greeting, command or message to the intended recipient.  Rather than relying entirely on a digital messaging system, the app enables users to have a personal interaction with the message recipient.  The app was debuted alongside a 10-minute short film depicting occasionally surreal uses of the app (including a plant asking its owner to water it).


The Somebody app, via Miranda July

“The most high-tech part of Somebody is not in the phone, it’s in the users who dare to deliver a message to [a] stranger,” the press statement reads.  “Half-app/half-human, Somebody is a far-reaching public art project that incites performance and twists our love of avatars and outsourcing—every relationship becomes a three-way.”

Read more at the Somebody Website