Welcome to One Fine Show, where Observer highlights a recently opened exhibition at a museum outside New York City—a place we know and love that already receives plenty of attention.
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The genius composer Daniel Lopatin, a.k.a. Oneohtrix Point Never, is well known for his collaborations with visual artists. The first time I saw him perform live was at the Museum of Modern Art in a multimedia show alongside frequent collaborator Nate Boyce. Since then, I’ve caught him several times, including a memorable performance at Greenpoint’s Warsaw in 2016, where Jon Rafman (b. 1981) provided the visuals.
The music was fantastic, and my appreciation of its glitch qualities deepened thanks to the giant image of a Reddit-style man who repeatedly appeared onstage. His face was masked by panties as he pointed two guns at his own head. Rafman draws deeply from internet culture in ways that are not always mainstream-friendly.
I also witnessed a piece of social sculpture Rafman staged at Zach Feuer Gallery that was indistinguishable from an actual Street Fighter IV tournament.
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Now, the forward-thinking Louisiana Museum of Modern Art has opened “Jon Rafman: Report a Concern — The Nine Eyes Archives,” showcasing works related to *The Nine Eyes of Google Street View*, a project Rafman began in 2008.
The project sounds simple: Rafman combs through and catalogs moments captured on Google Street View. But the artist has uncovered astounding moments of irony, violence, and beauty—all heightened by their fleeting nature, captured by chance on an orb-shaped camera not designed to document humanity.
At the core of the exhibition are these images, presented in a stunning 60-meter installation featuring thousands of small prints, alongside a supercut video. Rafman’s curation is remarkable—it’s as if he is one of the angels from *Wings of Desire* (1988), silently observing the various follies of mankind.
The scenes include furries, car accidents, people passed out drunk, tragic new architecture meant to look futuristic, prostitution, mooning—it’s all brilliantly assembled. The exhibition almost stands as a riposte to other contemporary art. For example, can anyone create a sculpture as iconic as the inflatable taters outside Austin’s Couch Potatoes Furniture & Mattress, Home of the World’s Largest Sofa?
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Rafman also explores many of his ideas through video works like *You, the World and I* (2010), which tells the story of a man who never had any photographs of an ex-girlfriend and now stalks her addresses on Street View, searching for images of her.
Even the project’s name offers layered commentary. “Nine Eyes” refers not only to the number of cameras on the Google Street View cars but also to the SIGINT (signals intelligence) sharing alliance between certain countries.
In the exhibition catalogue, Rafman reminds us that when he started the project, Google’s motto was “Don’t be Evil.” They have since changed it.
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*Jon Rafman: Report a Concern — The Nine Eyes Archives* is on view at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art through January 11, 2026.
For more exhibition reviews, stay tuned.
https://observer.com/2025/10/exhibition-review-jon-rafman-at-the-louisiana-museum-of-modern-art/