Discover IMG_0001, the digital time capsule of American Internet artist Riley Walz (Vancouver, United States, 2002): an archive full of forgotten YouTube videos featuring everyday, unfiltered moments from strangers around the world. Riley had his bot search for videos uploaded directly from an iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4s between 2009 and 2012, often without ever having been viewed. These videos were automatically given a fixed name with ascending numbering, starting with "IMG_0001.
In the exhibition at the Art Church, you browse through these fragments as if you were rummaging through a box full of forgotten photo albums from the thrift store. Discover what people shared (un)intentionally: four sisters shouting "Happy birthday, Dad!" shouting, singing Irish soccer fans in a pub, a girl in pink pajamas dancing to Britney Spears, and a proud man from Tennessee with a homemade wooden box. At a time when perfect pictures dominate the Internet, IMG_0001 is surprisingly sincere and sometimes unexpectedly relatable.
Riley Walz is an American Internet artist known for his nostalgic websites and digital projects that question the early years of the Internet. His projects often arise spontaneously, out of curiosity and experimentation. In addition to IMG_0001, he regularly builds websites. For example, he made Bop Spotter: a solar-powered installation that records street noise in San Francisco and recognizes what music is playing via Shazam. His projects have been reviewed in Wired, The New Yorker, The Washington Post and NRC, among others.
The exhibition runs from July 12, 2025 to Aug. 24, 2025 and can be visited Thursday through Sunday.
The address of the Kunstkerk in Dordrecht is Museumstraat 65, within walking distance of the Dordrecht Museum.
