Slopfest #77 · 2003 · Vienna

Everyone's First Friend

A new social network gave every user one friend to start with. We gave everyone Tom.

#77Deleted to free up tokens.

Photo-booth strip, four frames: the same smiling man named Tom beside four different guests, printed footer 'SLOPFEST #77'

Museum status: On permanent loan to a museum that has not been informed.

Venue: Flex, on the Donaukanal
Attendance: 18,900
Also spotted: A Bravo Starschnitt of Orlando Bloom as Legolas, stretched across three coat hooks
Fun fact: 1 Tom, 18,900 friends, 0 close ones

What happened

Every guest was assigned the same first friend on arrival, a man named Tom, hired for the evening because of his name. Tom smiled in 17,000 photos. Guests were also invited to decorate their name badges with glitter, song lyrics and animated text, and by midnight not one badge could be read.

Elsewhere in 2003

MySpace launches. Every new user automatically has one friend: co-founder Tom Anderson.

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