Filmmaker Ondi Timoner’s We Live in Public uncovers the tumultuous career of Josh Harris, the prototypical web entrepreneur who predicted the social-networking phenomenon years before broadband.
On the eve of Y2K, Harris threw himself a 30-day, end-of-the-millennium orgy that was equal parts art project, extended NYE party, and social experiment. Dig! director Timoner was among the pod-dwelling “citizens of Quiet,” as were Shamanatrix Missy Galore and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center founder Alanna Heiss.
After moving to NYC in 1984, the online impresario and tech artist set out to identify George Orwell’s “Big Brother” — the Internet. His modest high-tech startup, Jupiter Communications, became a multi-million dollar company, and, in 1994, morphed into Pseudo.com, the first site to integrate streaming video, radio, and live chat.
Read an interview with Josh Harris, visit the film’s website, and buy the DVD
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Pod People. Top: Theo Cerigo. Bottom: Nancy Smith. Photo credit: Donna Ferrato courtesy of Interloper Films
Josh in Bunker. Photo credit: Donna Ferrato courtesy of Interloper Films
Toilet Photo. Left: Carlos “cowboy” Alvarez. Right: Alex Lipsitz. Photo credit: Donna Ferrato courtesy of Interloper Films
Josh Harris as his alter-ego “Luvvy,” named after Mrs. Howell from Gilligan’s Island. Photo courtesy of Interloper Films
Josh Harris in Ethiopia. Photo courtesy of Interloper Films