![Tactics&Practice [podcast]](https://cdn-images-3.listennotes.com/podcasts/aksioma-aksioma-942TosX-8Qj-YlSIrDpeLPO.300x300.jpg)
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
![S6 [Becoming Image] E4: Darker Patterns [w/Ben Grosser]](https://cdn-images-3.listennotes.com/podcasts/tacticspractice/s6-becoming-image-e4-darker-6NxyofSu4UV-SBoQdg6bsFq.1400x1400.jpg "S6 [Becoming Image] E4: Darker Patterns [w/Ben Grosser]")
What infrastructures shape what we’re allowed to do, see, or become? From Technical to Hot to Operational, what are the political ontologies of the contemporary image and how might we rethink interfacing with interfaces?
In this episode, artist Ben Grosser traces his background and early interest in computer music and scientific imaging, as well as early experiments in destabilising software assumptions. He explains his Demetricator works, browser extensions that hide visible social-media metrics to reveal how likes and counts condition users, and argues that platforms are designed for growth and compulsion. We talk through his “Praise-Prompt Envelope” theory, the dynamics of chatbot validation to shifting forms of literacy in the age of AI-generated text and dark patterns, and how platform interfaces engineer desire, culture and behaviour through the logic of engagement.
Ben’s 2009 self-portrait from the Flexible Pixels project
Demetricator works: Twitter Demetricator, Facebook Demetricator, Instagram Demetricator
Reading the Praise/Prompt Machine: An Interface Criticism Approach to ChatGPT
by Ben Grosser and Søren Bro Pold
Douglas Rushkoff’s book Present Shock
Matthew Fuller and Eyal Weizman’s book Investigative Aesthetics
Lux Affirma prototype here
Laurence Sterne’s novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
B. F. Skinner’s idea of operant conditioning, was first introduced in a 1937 journal article, and fully formalised it in his landmark 1938 book, The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis
Francois Bonnet’s book, After Death
Host: Rebecca Edwards
Guest: Ben Grosser
Recording: Rebecca Edwards
Music: Gašper Torkar
Editing: Rebecca Edwards, Janez Fakin Janša
Audio post-production: Oskar Kandare, Staš Kramar
Becoming Image podcast series
Curated by: Rebecca Edwards
Coordinated by: Janez Fakin Janša
Produced by: Marcela Okretič
Production:
Aksioma | Institute for Contemporary Art Ljubljana, 2026
Part of:
tactics&practice#17: Becoming Image
Curated by Marco De Mutiis
Supported by:
the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana
The post S6 [Becoming Image] E4: Darker Patterns [w/Ben Grosser] appeared first on Aksioma.
![S4 [The Future Behind Us] E10: What Are the Limits of Interspecies Communication? [w/ Maja Smrekar]](https://cdn-images-3.listennotes.com/podcasts/tacticspractice/the-future-behind-us-ep-10-q1HI9ncl6OW-SjElHvVQraY.1080x1080.jpg)
![S4 [The Future Behind Us] E9: When an AI Governs Your City [w/ Pinar Yoldas]](https://cdn-images-3.listennotes.com/podcasts/tacticspractice/the-future-behind-us-ep-9-jqMgbt87WcV-a_5ulV4DTj3.1080x1080.jpg)
![S5 [Are You A Software Update?] E2: The Girl’s Inhuman Arsenal [w/Alex Quicho]](https://cdn-images-3.listennotes.com/podcasts/tacticspractice/s5-are-you-a-software-update-b90hJA4tn2S-xJyqomCli5a.1400x1400.jpg)
![S5 [Are You A Software Update?] E1: Memes as Sympoietic Agents [w/Sophie Publig]](https://cdn-images-3.listennotes.com/podcasts/tacticspractice/s5-are-you-a-software-update-zAWR4YBh8SD-8XexbVHtR5P.1400x1400.jpg)
