Yesterday, Parisian blogger Alex Boucherot of Fluctuat.net and I were discussing how some flash mobs have a (hopefully unintentional) fascist undertone, depending of course on who organizes the particular gathering, their motivation, and even the phrasing of the announcement. After we hung out, Alex stumbled on Christopher Bruno's recent net artwork where historical figures are "reincarnated as… artists." The entire series is excellent, but A. Hitler's FashMobs is particularly relevant to our discussion. From the Fashmobs "artist" statement:
"I created a website where people can leave their mobile phone number. The idea is that when the number of people is large enough, a SMS instruction is sent to all of them simultaneously by the server. When they receive it, people have to perform the instructions. The instructions are simple ones, like raising an arm, but the effect is amplified by the fact that many people do it in the same place, at the same time, as in a symphonic orchestra."
