Constellations are not real. (2012)
Constellations are patterns that we recognize in the sky and mythologize as a way of remembering each individual star. They are not complete entities, they are invented mnemonics. Sometimes when I look to the sky and attempt to remember the name and shape of a constellation, I see a blinking satellite and am reminded of how my personal life as it exists online- my data- is scattered around in space like a dust trail.
A two-part installation, Constellations are not real was created from tagged conventional portraits on Facebook. Forty-seven images, their descriptions of place and date, and attached comments have been reworked into an exploration of the self-portrait in the age of social media. While the photographic portrait has long been used as both a memory aid/memorial and a tool of capture and control, it could be argued that these uses have been pushed to their public limits with the platforms of digital and social media. A personal album or slideshow online includes shared public comments tracked across time/space that interact with tailored Google advertisements in the margin. Facial recognition technologies (FRT) have moved from their less successful uses in policing to popular social media applications that will automatically recognize and tag a friend's face. The complications between personal and public, memory and recognition, commercial imperialism and self-representation are opened up and splayed across the floor in the installation of Constellations are not real. Conventional tagged portraits of the artist are taken out of their Facebook album and reworked to explore these tensions. They have been collected in the form of a rotating slideshow where the face is traced with dots and lines of simple FRT biometrics. A corresponding installation of commercial-grade graphic vinyl photographs uses these same images and their data (descriptions, comments) and removes them from their visual context- leaving the viewer with a 'star map' of Facebook blue and white and FRT biometric drawings. Exhibited at the Surrey Art Gallery in Scenes of Selves, Occasions of Ruses (September 15-December 16, 2012). Click here for the exhibition invitation. Featured in Pulp Mag, Fall 2012. |
Constellations are not real.
Single channel video: Silent slideshow (4:42)
Single channel video: Silent slideshow (4:42)
Constellations are not real.
Floor Graphic:
47 prints, approximately 7x10", printed on graphic vinyl and installed on the gallery floor.
Floor Graphic:
47 prints, approximately 7x10", printed on graphic vinyl and installed on the gallery floor.