Your sitting. Your privacy.

Speaking, images, typing or silence

If you speak, your browser asks for microphone permission. It reads features such as pace, pitch, loudness and pauses on your device. Audio is sent over an encrypted connection to the server used for AUDIENCE, where it is turned into text. No outside transcription service receives it. A code derived from the sound reading and a few summary values are also sent; the detailed sound features stay on your device.

If you type, the microphone stays off. Your accepted answers are held in the page while you write, then sent together to the same server to draw out a few subject words.

If you choose images, the microphone stays off. Your selections stay in the page while you choose, then form a code used to arrange the work. No selections or subject record are sent to the server. The selections are discarded after the code is made. The page still requests the pictures, artwork layers and fonts it needs.

In sittings with Continue and Pass, only accepted answers are sent. Pass discards the current answer on your device. Passing on every question creates a work without sending answers.

If you choose silence, the microphone stays off and no answers are sent. Everyone choosing this route receives the same digital arrangement. It is composed on your device without creating a subject record on the server. The page still requests the images and fonts it needs.

If processing is unavailable, the result explains what could be confirmed. When no answers were sent, it says so. If an answer submission was attempted but confirmation did not arrive, the receipt cannot establish whether a subject record was saved. Keep the code and contact the studio if you would like that checked.

You can leave the sitting at any time. Leaving stops capture and tells the server to release an open sitting. It does not remove a record already saved from a completed sitting; you can request that separately.

What is temporary

The software holds audio in memory and releases it after processing. It does not write audio to storage, and the server is configured not to save incoming audio in temporary request files. Answer text is held in memory and discarded after the subjects have been drawn from it.

This is a promise about the software, not every part of a computer. The browser and operating system manage memory in ways the artwork’s software does not fully control.

What remains under your code

For a completed spoken or typed sitting that yields words, the server keeps a short record linked to your work’s code:

• Up to five subject words selected from your answers.
• A word count and summary values for laughter and the amount of speech or silence.
• The language, the time the record was created and a composition category retained by the system.

These records support the work’s title and later studio reference. The current online artwork always has eleven layers; the retained category does not change that count.

This is not a transcript and cannot reconstruct your full answers. But individual subject words can still be personal or sensitive. Please avoid sharing information you would not want represented in that short record.

There is currently no automatic expiry for these retained records. They remain available for studio reference unless removed. You can ask to see or remove what is held under your code using the contact details below.

Your name, artwork and layer record

The name you give for the artwork’s credit stays in the page on your device. It is not sent with your answers or automatically copied into the contact form.

The eleven-layer artwork is composed in your browser. You can download its image and a separate layer record describing the marks and their source paintings. The result also shows the title, your work’s code and a receipt describing what happened to your answers.

Your download and anything you share from it are under your control. Keep your code private if you do not want it associated with you: it can connect the work with its retained record. Removing a server record does not remove copies you have downloaded or shared.

Keeping in touch

After the artwork arrives, you may choose to leave a name, email address or phone number and tick the consent box. This is optional and separate from taking part.

The studio keeps the details you submit, the consent wording and time, and the work’s code and title. They are used for the updates you agreed to: new work, exhibitions and prints. You can ask to stop receiving updates at any time.

Contact details are stored separately from the subject record, but the shared code allows the studio to link them. Together, they may identify you and some of what you spoke or wrote about.

Website storage and logs

The browser remembers your language choice in its local storage. You can remove that preference by clearing this site’s stored data. The site does not load advertising trackers or third-party analytics, and its fonts are hosted with the artwork.

The host receives ordinary connection information, including your IP address. Page visits and general asset requests can appear in server logs with the time, requested address and browser information. Access logging is disabled for the sitting and contact submission routes and for artwork layer requests. Temporary address-based limits help keep the services available.

Website access logs are scheduled for daily rotation, with up to fourteen rotated logs retained. This is separate from the subject and contact records described above.

Your choices and privacy requests

Steve Baylis is responsible for this notice. To request access, a correction, removal of a retained record, or an end to updates, write to:

Include your work’s code if you have it. For contact details, include the address or number you submitted. Please do not resend your sitting answers.

I will confirm what is held and explain any identity checks, retention requirements or limits affecting removal, including retained copies. Removing a subject or contact record leaves an administrative record of its entry and removal, without the deleted subject words or contact details. It is not a promise to erase every historical trace.

I aim to respond within thirty business days and will explain if more time is needed. If a concern remains unresolved, you can contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.

Who this sitting is for

The online sitting is intended for adults. It does not verify your age. An in-person sitting or a separately consented study has its own information and consent process; it is not covered by your choice to take this online sitting.

The work’s reading can be wrong. Its title is part of the artwork, not a diagnosis or a reliable account of what you feel.