Karen, an App That Knows You All Too Well

The following is an excerpt from the New  York Times article “Karen, an App That Knows You All Too Well,” by Frank Rose. Originally published April 2, 2015.


 

LONDON — Thinking about a life coach but not ready to commit to the real thing? App stores offer lots of electronic alternatives that can be downloaded to your iPhone or Android device. There’s Success Wizard, which promises to “help you plan, focus and achieve real and lasting results.” LiveHappy, brim-full of exercises from the California psychologist who wrote “The How of Happiness.” Niggle, for people who want “a pocket sized coaching buddy on call 24/7.” And soon, from the British art group Blast Theory, an entirely different approach: Karen, a mock life-coach app that develops boundary issues and leaves its users feeling distinctly uncomfortable.

Karen is a fictional coach in a software-driven experiential art piece. Part story, part game, designed to be played over a period of days, it offers a deliberately unsettling experience that’s intended to make us question the way we bare ourselves to a digital device.

Unlike most real life-coaching apps, this one displays video rather than text — a tactic that makes it easy to forget the distinction between what’s digital and what’s human. When you open the app, Karen (played by Claire Cage, an actress who has appeared on the British TV series “Coronation Street” and “Being Human”) starts speaking to you directly, asking a series of questions.

She seems winsome and friendly — a little too friendly, perhaps. “She’s only recently out of a long-term relationship,” explained Matt Adams, one of the three members of Blast Theory, “and she has a hunger for a new social alternative.”

The dynamic that unfolds is somewhat reminiscent of “Her,” the 2013 Spike Jonze film in which Joaquin Phoenix’s character falls in love with an operating system. With Karen, however, it’s not the user but the app that starts exhibiting inappropriate behavior. “She develops a kind of friend crush,” Mr. Adams said. “And over the next 10 days or so, she feeds back to you things she’s learning about you — including some things you’re not quite sure how she knows or why.”

One other thing that’s different about Karen: It’s not a movie. It’s a personalized experience that plays out on a smartphone or tablet. There is no fourth wall. There is no Joaquin Phoenix. This story is about you. It morphs to fit the user, based on information the user supplies, choices the user makes and inferences the app itself begins to make. And just as you reveal yourself to Karen, she reveals herself to you, in ways that veer farther and farther from a legitimate life-coach experience.

Beginning April 16, shortly after it’s scheduled to be available for free download on Apple’s app store, Karen will be featured in the Tribeca Film Festival’s Storyscapes competition, which showcases innovative, interactive approaches to storytelling. “I love the idea of a life coach that goes wrong,” said Ingrid Kopp, director of interactive at the Tribeca Film Institute and curator of the competition. “And I thought it would particularly appeal to New Yorkers.”

Ms. Kopp has had her eye on Blast Theory for a while. Based 50 miles outside London in the seaside resort town of Brighton, the group has a reputation for edgy, tech-infused work combining games, video and performance. “We’re interested in the intimacy of mobile phones,” Mr. Adams said. “How they might be thought of as a cultural space. Karen was an opportunity to take this strategy further — how you might engage with a fictional character who is software-driven.”

Claire Cage, who plays Karen in the app. Credit Ruler

But few software characters offer the peculiarly ego-boosting appeal of adapting themselves to the user. This makes Karen an intriguing tool for exploring the knotty relationship between digital personalization and human solipsism. “We know we’re making a satanic bargain” when we rely on personalized devices, Mr. Adams added, “but it’s a rich, murky space, and we’re not entirely sure what we think.”

Curious to learn more about Karen and her creators, the British art group Blast Theory? Read the entire NYT article here.

 

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