@Horse_ebooks revealed as conceptual art project -- by humans
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The mystery behind @Horse_ebooks, the Twitter account long suspected to be a spambot, has been revealed -- and it has an artistic twist.
The account, which spews random bits of text and phrases, is run by real people as part of a years-long conceptual art project, the New Yorker reported.
Jacob Bakkila, a creative director at Buzzfeed, and Thomas Bender, a former vice president of product development at Howcast, are the minds behind @Horse_ebooks as well as popular YouTube channel Pronunciation Book.
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The pair were scheduled to appear Tuesday at New York’s Fitzroy Gallery to launch their next installment, Bear Stearns Bravo, which the the New Yorker describes as a “choose-your-own-adventure interactive-video piece.”
Bakkila and Bender are also marking the end of @Horse_ebooks, which has garnered 212,000 followers, with a performance piece they’re calling “Horse_ebooks 2.”
Until 5 p.m. PST users can call a number to hear the creators read @Horse_ebooks word jumbles aloud, which seem both bizarre and meaningful (“remember and fun to share”) even through their bot-syle tone.
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