Final Project

Check out my final project of the semester!

http://onlineidentityartexhibit.weebly.com/index.html

Final - Compare/Contrast

For my final project I decided to continue my social media project Facebook Intruder. It’s seemed obvious that there was much more to explore with the idea than I was able to do initially.

My final is called Facebook Intruder: Reign Of Giras. Contained in this project, are the combined materials from the initial Facebook Intruder as well as the new material. I think they inform each other quite well, but also, I think that it is necessary to explain the project – from inception to finish.

The largest difference between this project and my initial Facebook Intruder is how I am documenting the work. A PDF with screen shots (as I did initially) wasn’t very satisfactory. So, based on the suggestions that I received in the critique of that project, I’ve decided to print out the screen shots create a scrapbook. Contained in the book, are pasted screenshots as well as notes, explaining them.

Taking the project into a physical form was really satisfying. I think that it makes the process of the project seem more substantial. I addition to that, I think that I was able to reinforce the overall purpose and aesthetic of the project, by crafting and decorating the book.

Facebook Intruder

Facebook Intruder (2012)

With this project I created an alter ego Facebook profile. With the profile I attempted to permeate the online social networks of complete strangers. In doing so, I’ve begun to gauge the legitimacy, pertinence and availability of social interactions that stay on Facebook having never begun with physical interaction. I chose Facebook as the forum for this investigation because of it’s overall popularity as well as the relative exclusivity of it’s social networks.

Below are examples of the screens shots and descriptions that I used to document the process:

 

8 – Commenting on a picture of one of my newly acquired Facebook friends.

 

14 – Although I was taking the friend-request process much slower that I did previously with the “Ferris” profile, Facebook still eventually intervened by no longer allowing the Max Gira profile to request friends. The duration of this limitation is not made clear although all other aspects of the profile still functioned.

 

15 – First conversation with a Facebook friend. The friendship was terminated by the other party soon after.

Social Media - Pre Internet

With my project Facebook Intruder, I aim to explore the permeability of online social networks (specifically Facebook) by way of a fabricated online profile. Executing this project and achieving its goals without the Internet would be impossible. The entire objective of the project is to gauge the legitimacy and pertinence of social interactions that stay online and never cross into physical interaction.

That being said, if the goals for the project were slightly altered, I imagine that a variant of it could be executed pre-internet through written letters and the post office. Who knows how often mailing a letter to a random person and striking up a dialogue actually happens, but its lack of immediacy would certainly make the line of dialogue between the parties much different than a line of dialogue between random people online. I figure doing this through mail to be how the concept of “pen-pals” was initially formed. In that regard, it’s not an unfamiliar concept.

Social Media Artist

Man Bartlett

Born: 1981

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

His work includes drawings, collages and online performance art.

Often often uses Twitter to communicate/carry-out his social media projects. Works include:

#TheseusHand - A project where he had people tweet pictures of hand jesters which form either a one or a zero. The images were then used to create a series of instructions.

#GreyMatter - A project where people contacted him via Twitter or in an art gallery and told Man where they were from. Man would then then represent this place by tying a piece of colored string to a dowel rod.

#24hClerk - A project where people contacted him via twitter and told him their dreams. He would then "price" these dreams on a chart.

manbartlett.com

Twitter

I made a Twitter profile a few months ago out of fear of no longer being “with it.” I figured that its pervasiveness into pop culture had denoted its pertinence. Every politician, musician, artist, etc. that I was interested in had an account and seemed to be reaping its benefits. Since then, I’ve periodically logged into my own account to try and get something out of it… to no avail! I continually found myself asking myself different variations of, “who cares?” or “what is the point of this?” or “what does this mean?” or “how do I do this?”

Thankfully this “Twitter assignment” has given me the opportunity to spend significantly more time with it than I had before, exploring its facets. In doing so, I‘ve begun to turn the corner with my understanding of its purposes. Before my more thorough investigation, I figured that Facebook could provide everything that I needed out of social-media websites. This leads me to my (obvious) Twitter realization… unlike Facebook; Twitter provides a streamlined forum for people to connect with complete strangers who share the same interests. It’s a great tool to find out the very latest news, facts, etc. on whatever you’re interested in.

Appropriation Work II

Its That Time

2012

A composite vector-graphic image which was composed entirely from appropriated imagery from the short film, The Nature of Sound (1948). I found the footage from the short to be very reminiscent of Cold War educational and propaganda films that I’ve seen. I think it is that sense of paranoia and dread that I get from those films that informed this piece.