deviantART: by:JLEverest

deviantART: by:JLEverest http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:JLEverest&section=today deviantART RSS for by:JLEverest en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:55:42 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png A Potential Artist's Statement http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/28523670/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/28523670/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:27:47 PST

My GalleryÂ Â Â Â Â Â My PrintsÂ Â Â Â Â Â Note MeÂ Â Â Â Â Â Watch Me

I would take this opportunity to outline the intentions behind my forthcoming engagement with dA and any future submissions that I make as a studying and practicing artist.

This paricular artist statement (if you would like to acknowledge it as one) is very much a working progress, perhaps more of an open discussion with the people who end up reading or commenting upon it. I plan to update and manipulate the content of this journal entry throughout the next few months before revising a suitable version for my degree show in June.

The responses IÂve had to both my work and a recent online presentation on the Digital Self-Portrait - [link] - has really encouraged me to look harder at the structure of dA; the terms such as watcher, favourite or journal that it uses, the type of behaviour or activity these induce and also the categorisation the service supplies in order to identify submissions. By doing so, I would like to accentuate the medium in which millions of people entrust to portray and circulate their work and bring it into the foreground for immediate appraisal. This should encourage more dA users to differentiate their own input into this web service and its online community from what dA appears to facilitate from them, by approaching the physical structure and etiquette it seemingly imposes.

For those that are familiar with my online gallery, you will know that I work a lot with the self-portrait. My fascination into this subject has been intensified by the popular use of the s.p in contemporary online culture and particularly social-networking services. There are many issues that my self-portraits raise within their critique; gender being one of the most obvious one. But I do believe that one image is doing something very different for me and this is encouraging a practical re-focus of my artistic activity Â particularly here on dA where the majority of my creativity congregates.

For me, Identity Enclave (below) accurately illustrates any potential re-focus in my practice. This online photograph uses the medium of the internet and the web service of dA in order to depict them both as its subject in relationship to human interaction. I am not proposing that my work will continue to involve the self, nor am I refuting this either. Instead, I would propose that the work that I will be producing will use the internet as the vehicle for its dissemination whilst reflecting upon it as the subject at the same time.

The opportunity to subvert the intentions, structure and policies of dA is not something I intend to do out of rebellion against the web service. In fact, on the contrary, I would promote it as a sign of creative thinking. I have been using dA now for over a year and I have had a great time showing my work to such a diverse audience. I have seen some truly amazing work here and frequently had thought-provoking discussions with many of the users within this community.

There are millions of individuals that use dA and it would be slightly inappropriate of me to generalise and speculate on how or why they use this service. However, I would like to suggest that my approach could distance myself from other users in comparison to our intentions and equally the content of work that we both submit. I donÂt know what the outcome of this may be... particularly from an environment that encourages the formation of networks; grouping individual accounts together in the same space Â especially if distancing, somewhat ironically, occurs through my work and within this realm.

Kind Regards

Protean Self

Facebook > [link] > Twitter > [link]

http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/28521810/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:27:25 PST

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I have been tagged by the talented

I am required to detail 10 things about my self for the dA public to read

1. I moved to Brighton, England in 2005
2. I won a significant some of money on the National Lottery when I was 19
3. I appeared as an extra in the series Lost
4. I have had my hair permed
5. My all time favourite book would either be Pride and Prejudice or Moby Dick
6. I currently have swine flu and a nose that is consistently bleeds
7. I have 3 projects of which I'd like publicise to the dA community very soon
8. I don't use baths but prefer showers
9. This is my second dA account for reasons I do not wish to communicate
10. I consider self to be fluent and malleable - depending on context of portrayal

Rules:
1. Post these rules on your Journal.
2. Each tagged person must write 10 things about themselves.
3. At the end, you have to choose and put up ten people that you want to tag, and put them up in your journal.
4. Go to their page and say "I tagged you!"
5. Have fun!

Protean Self

Facebook > [link] > Twitter > [link]

]]> *JLEverest Feedback from my Interim Presentation http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/28153786/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/28153786/ Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:28:35 PST

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WEBCAM (YOUTUBE) [link]

I wanted to express my thanks to all those that have engaged with my text concerning the digital self-portrait over the last two weeks. I had my q&a session with my tutors and peers yesterday and some interesting points and issues came up.

I will be promoting this presentation for two more weeks - after this I will be documenting and submitting it as part of my university degree. I would like to suggest to my peers that if they get a spare 10mins within this time-frame, that they would follow up some of the comments made in the q&a and post them up here so that both the dA users and myself can respond to it as well.

I thought in a years time I would update this presentation, reflecting on the changes in my opinion of the topic, perhaps a re-focus in the subject (reflecting through my practice) and also showing awareness to any cultural and technological changes that have developed in Western society in this time.

Kind Regards,

Thankyou for being supportive... If you havn't seen the presentation, please take a look, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts?

Protean Self

p.s - for all those who would like to know more details of the q&a and particularly my reaction, then please feel free to note me and I will duely reply!

You can find all the entries related to my presentation here : [link]

Facebook > [link] > Twitter > [link]

]]> *JLEverest The Digital Self Portrait - Interim Presentation http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27993115/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27993115/ Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:21:16 PST

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WEBCAM (YOUTUBE) [link]

Good evening ladies and gentleman Â I hope you are all well and having a good time?

Next week, Wednesday 4th November, I will be doing my Interim Presentation for my University Degree. Just for your information; the presentation Âcomprises a display of current work, in which you refer to theoretical, critical and historical contexts by means of written textÂ (student handbook).

As a self-portraitist I have been fascinated by the impact that new technologies have had on the medium and my consequent engagement with the self-portrait in both an offline and online contexts. Since joining dA about a year ago this website quickly became the hub for both my practice and my research. In light of this, I have composed a short written piece for my presentation and uploaded onto dA as of today Â a week before IÂm due to be presenting this to the course leaders and fellow students.

By pitching the text out in the context of what it is actually questioning, I am hoping to open out my thoughts upon the plight of the digital self-portrait (the deviantID or the profile picture) and its impact on personal relationships and social communication with a pro-active online community, of whom are actively involved with the self-portrait in such a dynamic and excessive way.

It would mean an awful lot to me if some of you could take the time out of your day to engage with the texts and let me know what you think. My view is that the comments (if of course I get any) would prove just as an important as the body of text that I have composed; providing a more democratic outlook on a social activity that we are all engaging with. The things I have uploaded are only the starting point for this discussion - any conclusions that develop in my eyes can only really come from the reaction an online community has with it.

The folder in which this discussion has been formed consists of written texts, photos, posters, diagrams and drawings. The text part of this has been split down into five sections with subheadings relating to its specific content. Each component comes with active hyperlinks at the bottom referring to the sources in which I have used. I don't it has to be read in a linear way either; from a start to a finish, I think one can read it in any order and respond to it in just the same way.

Thanks for taking the time to read this - please consider reading and commenting on my presentation?

Protean Self

You can find all the entries related to my presentation here : [link]

Facebook > [link] > Twitter > [link]

http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27865983/ Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:41:57 PDT

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This extract was composed by

I'm sure many users out there have used the term myspace photo in discussions concerning self-portraiture - I would like to know what it might actually represent? Where has it come from, how does it come to represent some self-portraits and not others, and equally where does this leave self-portraiture in its most immediate steps into the 21st Century?

*Please feel free to comment upon this and help create an accurate definition of the term*

MYSPACE PHOTO

This is the term I use because it's the most memorable, however it doesn't mean that the photo itself would just be found on myspace, could even be facebook, twitter, or any other kind of " Personal profile " website, from normal (facebook) to dating/adult (Such as gaydar or match.com as they usually include semi-naked to fully naked photos of a person)This can take on many different categories (Again, I use these as illustrative purposes to explain my theory)

Normal - The person's face
Provocative - Woman in a very small top or bikini.bra, or topless male for example)
Adult - Nude or just in underwear
Erotic - Person is usually nude and either posed or performing a rude, provocative or extreme act of sexual persuasion

NORMAL

It doesn't necessarily have to be of the persons face or just of them self, it can include their friend or even a pet. But is most likely taken by them self without the use of another person to hold the camera. They could either hold it them self or stand it on something. The overall picture can vary on quality, due to the camera itself or the lighting that they have used.The camera itself is 80% always held at an angle, and the person will normally be looking into the camera itself or obviously off in another direction. They do not normally look natural, as it is obviously staged and the person is posing for the camera. Their facial expression could be various but is usually either serious/unemotional or smiling.In itself this is photography, but is not considered Artistic as there has been no professional preparation that has gone into the image itself, such as - Set up professional lighting from specific angle, the photo has been taken by someone else, and the film and camera itself that is used is taken into consideration.

The photo is purely used to show off ones self, a profile picture of sorts. No technical skill, technique or research has been needed to go into the image itself and therefore is very much like an instant camera.
Take out your phone, point it at yourself, maybe check if you're next to a light or window, pull a face and a pose, hold it at an angle and then take a photo, then look at it. Have you done anything else to what I have just said? Was it difficult? Did you need to study or spend months of technique learning to do it?

No - Art in itself is a contradiction, sometimes people take years to finish one piece, and others do it in seconds. A man can paint a solid blue circle one a huge canvas, put it in a gallery and call it a piece of Art, and instantly it is, because he called it so. Yet, why is that? It's because he thought about it. There is a boundary between calling something Art. Taking a photo such as the one I described could very well be put onto an art website and called a piece of art ... but is it?

No - It's a profile photo. Because you could take millions of them from as many angles or from as many lighting types and it would still be the same subject and still a mugshot. It would not change its meaning or its image. However, take another person to hold the camera, set up a proper source of lighting, place the subject in a place where the background is important and will make as much impact on the image as possible, and then take the photo (Could even use the same camera) and voila ... it's no long a myspace photo. It's thought out, takes time. If I was to hold the camera and take a photo of my friend in a pose while they sit at their desk at Uni then it's still not a piece of Art. It's just a photo, because I haven't taken time to light it myself or place it somewhere the light will impact on it, or think of the background. But it's no longer a myspace photo as it's no longer... ]]> *JLEverest deviantART Presentation http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27756200/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27756200/ Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:55:43 PDT

My GalleryÂ Â Â Â Â Â My PrintsÂ Â Â Â Â Â Note MeÂ Â Â Â Â Â Watch Me

In November I will be putting on a presentation at uni - focusing upon the use of the self-portrait in current social contexts (considering the impact of new technologies and its use or purpose on the internet).

Every student on my course has to do presentation this year, detailing any theoretical and social contexts that should appear to support ones practice. As deviantART makes up a big part of my approach to the self-portrait (or deviantID) I would really like to consider something different - beyond a formal and standard powerpoint - for my presentation?

I had thought of booking out one of the computer labs at uni, inviting guests to come in and sign on to the computers so they can look through dA whilst I perhaps talk about and refer to it and the subject of self-portraiture?

Does anyone have any other ideas - perhaps better than that or ways in which I could adapt or improve it? I would be most grateful to hear them if anyone does?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Protean Self

Facebook > [link] > Twitter > [link]

]]> *JLEverest Pro-Am Presence - Samsung ST 550 http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27571419/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27571419/ Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:03:30 PDT

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For those of you familiar with some of my collections here on dA you may be aware of the one called Pro-Am at Arm-Length (some of you may well feature in it).

You can find more at [link]

Whilst watching some television the other day, I came across a comercial from Samsung, advertising their latest compact digital camera. Along with all the automated features you find built into to most cameras today (which I'm sure already brings about much disapproval from many creative photographers on dA), Samsungs latest model comes with a LCD screen on the front of the camera as well as one on the back.

Here is a video of the ST 550 in action on Youtube: [link]

Returning to the collection I previously mentioned, the notion of the Pro-Am within the design industry in this case can be solidified if we consider Samsung's new product. The designers of the ST 550 have worked on a concept for the camera purely on the basis of previous camera consumer interaction.

Individuals in the photographs from my collection are seen to have recorded their own image whilst holding the camera away from their body - turning the camera around and pointing it back at themself. The engagement we as viewers have is actually quite unique; especially as we can physically locate the camera in relation to the subject. As both aspects here appear connected, the intimacy is intensified - making such works consistently enthralling. Notice how some shots are taken from quite a high distance, above the individuals head, in order to get as much of the body in the frame as possible. Also look for sunglasses that provide the details of which arm is holding the camera.

The ST 550 with its dual LCD screen is not an idea that a designer has conjured up from nowhere, or in a small garden shed-turned workshop. Instead Samsung, as I am sure other brands will also do shortly, have successfully observed how users operate their existing products and have responded by designing this model, tailored-made to the consumer's use and need.

The sheer density or popularity of my collection shows that a camera hasn't before needed such a feature in order to create such images... sceptically I'm not sure if it needs it in the future either. But it does somewhat support the Pro-Am ethos that I have described alongside this collection; being that consumers are not merely consumers, but leading innovators in product design.

Without them, their wouldnt be the ST 550 in the first place.

]]> *JLEverest TPSP Residency Sept 09 http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27370910/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27370910/ Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:13:44 PDT

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See images from todays work @ [link]

During the two day residency, I will be working on a number of video installations and projections which will respond the exiting space at the Oxmarket Centre of Arts and further the development of The Protean Self Project. The work made over the course of the weekend will hopefully generate more ideas towards the new community projects that will take place over the next 12 months - clearly demonstrating the vast potential of the space and the Centre for future creative pursuits.

The Centre of Arts is located in the old church of St. Andrew-in-Oxmarket which dates back to the thirteenth century. Having been damaged by a bomb in 1943, the church was never again used for services and when it became redundant in the mid 1950Âs, it was deconsecrated and became derelict.

Chichester Centre of Arts Limited was founded in 1971 and work began on restoring the building. This included the installation of contemporary yet classical new windows, designed and engraved by Majella Taylor. The north window depicts the patron saint of music and on the south side the window shows a figure reading a book Â a memorial to William Collins the poet who was buried here. The Centre opened in 1976 and restoration work continued with the rebuilding of the Vestry as a workshop/storeroom.

In 1989 a modern extension on the site of the derelict graveyard to the north of the church was opened by H.R.H. The Princess Alexandra.

Itinerary:
Wednesday and Thursday
> preparing video footage > initial video editing >

Friday
> finalise video editing > working on video installations throughout the day (in colaboration with other artists) > upload new Protean Self Profile Picture to Facebook (11pm GMT) >

Saturday
> exhibit video installations throughout the day > meet and discuss details of the Protean Self Project with both invited guests and regular visitors > work on plans and designs for future projections and lightbox displays >

Lastly - 5 still frame images from the video work will be upload onto my dA account before Saturday.
The entire film reel will be uploaded Saturday. Here are the first five images - film reel to be added on Saturday

The Protean Self Blog > [link]
Facebook > [link]
Twitter > [link]

]]> *JLEverest Feature Thread... http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27017469/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/27017469/ Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:47:05 PDT

My GalleryÂ Â Â Â Â Â My PrintsÂ Â Â Â Â Â Note MeÂ Â Â Â Â Â Watch Me

~Claudia-R featured me in her journal, so here is the deal : the first 20 people to comment this journal will get a feature of 3 of their works (my personal faves) ^^

>>> NOW FULL <<<

>>> PLEASE KEEP THIS CIRCULATE <<<

After you've commented and I've featured you, please make a journal entry like this of your own, and feature me there at the first place please

>>> PLEASE KEEP THIS CIRCULATED <<<

Poetry follow these links:

[link] [link] [link]

*JLEverest TPSP Information Update: http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/26226992/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/26226992/ Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:28:15 PDT

My GalleryÂ Â Â Â Â Â My PrintsÂ Â Â Â Â Â Note MeÂ Â Â Â Â Â Watch Me

Facebook Profile > Protean Self > Twitter > theproteanself > Skype > theproteanself

All users here on DA that use some of these online services and who are interested in The Protean Self Project (TPSP), please consider finding my profile and adding me to you contacts.

Facebook Profile
Starting next week I will attempt to change the profile picture of the facebook account I run under the name of Protean Self Â using portraits donated by you, the online community. This will become part of the photographic study into the self portrait; the new digital and interactive profile picture.

Proteus; the Greek Sea God of multiple forms. The protean self evinces â mockery and self-mockery, irony, absurdity, and humour.

I really hope the innovative and proactive community here on DA will become greatly involved in the project?

Kind Regards

theproteanselfproject@gmail.com

Images from the Collection here on DA - [link]

]]> *JLEverest Calling for Support from DA Users??? http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/26038124/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/26038124/ Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:10:52 PDT
I thought that it would be best if I were to put this in a journal entry firstÂ see how it goes, if it doesnÂt work then I will have to change strategy?!?

Anyway, for those of you that are familiar with my profile, I like to talk (basically think quite crudely out loud) about photography and perhaps more specifically its current social use. IÂm been working on a project since about 2007 concerning the position of the self-portrait in photography as a potential predecessor to the profile picture or deviant i.d.

In September (couple of months away now!!!) I start my final year at University, studying Critical Fine Art Practice. I have three major things to work on in the year; (1) degree exhibition (2) documentation of my art practice and (3) dissertation and interim presentation. I would like to take this opportunity to ask for some help from a genuinely open, proactive community here on deviantART (DA).

I am looking to collate a diverse collection of self-portraits that can be used within the Protean Self Project - to help initiate discussion points within both my writing and formal presentations. These images should portraits taken by you that have either the intentions of online publication, or have already been uploaded to DA or another social networking websites.

You can suggest and submit (maybe a better word is donate) your images for use in the project in these ways:

Â If your image is currently online, here on DA or elsewhere, you could send me a link in either a note or comment on my profile
Â Attach any image files to an email and send to theproteanselfproject@gmail.com

Songbird

]]> *JLEverest Human Void http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/25388802/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/25388802/ Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:37:03 PDT [link]

This series has been inspired by the work of Charles Cohen. In his photo-edited series Buff, Cohen takes pornographic images and masks the identity of the individuals with a white silhouette. ÂA void replaces what ought to be present, or rather, what is expected. While in most cases the pictures are still clearly erotic, one finds oneself appreciating the image in ways not common to pornography. This is the effect of abstraction. The colour palette, the interaction of light and shadow, negative space, and references to art history contribute to an unexpected beauty. Several dualities become apparent and are changed: the background and the subject (foreground), the refined and the crude, the private and the public, the perceiver and the perceived, and the present and the absent, among others. The relationships between these themes find a dynamic equilibrium dependent on the viewer.Â

[link]

Although both works use the same technical process, this series is focuses solely upon the subject - diagrammatising how both females and males manipulate and frame their figure for the gaze of online viewers.

Thank you to all D.A users that have given me their consent to use these images. You have been very supportive and I hope that people looking at the work will be able to cross reference it with your online collections.

]]> *JLEverest Beyond Networking http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087283/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087283/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:44:45 PST Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism- Christine Rosen

Beyond Networking

This past spring, Len Harmon, the director of the Fischer Policy and Cultural Institute at Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts, offered a new course about social networking. Nichols is a small school whose students come largely from Connecticut and Massachusetts; many of them are the first members of their families to attend college. ÂI noticed a lot of issues involved with social networking sites,Â Harmon told me when I asked him why he created the class. How have these sites been useful to Nichols students? ÂIt has relieved some of the stress of transitions for them,Â he said. ÂWhen abrupt departures occurÂtheir family moves or they have to leave friends behindÂthey can cope by keeping in touch more easily.Â

So perhaps we should praise social networking websites for streamlining friendship the way e-mail streamlined correspondence. In the nineteenth century, Emerson observed that Âfriendship requires more time than poor busy men can usually command.Â Now, technology has given us the freedom to tap into our network of friends when it is convenient for us. ÂItÂs a way of maintaining a friendship without having to make any effort whatsoever,Â as a recent graduate of Harvard explained to The New Yorker. And that ease admittedly makes it possible to stay in contact with a wider circle of offline acquaintances than might have been possible in the era before Facebook. Friends you havenÂt heard from in years, old buddies from elementary school, people you might have (should have?) fallen out of touch withÂit is now easier than ever to reconnect to those people.

But what kind of connections are these? In his excellent book Friendship: An ExposÃ©, Joseph Epstein praises the telephone and e-mail as technologies that have greatly facilitated friendship. He writes, Proust once said he didnÂt much care for the analogy of a book to a friend. He thought a book was better than a friend, because you could shut itÂand be shut of itÂwhen you wished, which one canÂt always do with a friend. With e-mail and caller ID, Epstein enthuses, you can. But social networking sites (which Epstein says speak to the vast loneliness in the world) have a different effect: they discourage Âbeing shut ofÂ people. On the contrary, they encourage users to check in frequently, poke friends, and post comments on othersÂ pages. They favor interaction of greater quantity but less quality.

This constant connectivity concerns Len Harmon. ÂThere is a sense of, Âif IÂm not online or constantly texting or posting, then IÂm missing something,ÂÂ he said of his students. ÂThis is where I find the generational impact the greatestÂnot the use of the technology, but the overuse of the technology.Â It is unclear how the regular use of these sites will affect behavior over the long runÂespecially the behavior of children and young adults who are growing up with these tools. Almost no research has explored how virtual socializing affects childrenÂs development. What does a child weaned on Club Penguin learn about social interaction? How is an adolescent who spends her evenings managing her MySpace page different from a teenager who spends her night gossiping on the telephone to friends? Given that people want to live their lives online, as the founder of one social networking site recently told Fast Company magazine, and they are beginning to do so at ever-younger ages, these questions are worth exploring.

The few studies that have emerged do not inspire confidence. Researcher Rob Nyland at Brigham Young University recently surveyed 184 users of social networking sites and found that heavy users Âfeel less socially involved with the community around them.Â He also found that Âas individuals use social networking more for entertainment, their level of social involvement decreases.Â Another recent study conducted by communications professor Qingwen Dong and colleagues at the University of the Pacific found that Âthose who engaged in romantic communication over MySpace tend to have low levels of both emotional intelligence and self-esteem.Â

The implications of the narcissistic and exhibitionistic tendencies of social networkers also cry out for further consideration. There are opportunity costs when we spend so much time carefully grooming ourselves online. Given how much time we already devote to entertaining ourselves with technology, it is at least worth asking if the time we spend on social networking sites is well spent. In investing so much energy into improving how we present ourselves online, are we missing chances to genuinely improve ourselves?

We should also take note of the trend toward giving up face-to-face for virtual contactÂand, in some cases, a preference for the latter. Today, many of our cultural, social, and... ]]> *JLEverest Status-Seekers http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087240/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087240/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:41:54 PST Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism- Christine Rosen

Status-Seekers

Of course, it would be foolish to suggest that people are incapable of making distinctions between social networking ÂfriendsÂ and friends they see in the flesh. The use of the word ÂfriendÂ on social networking sites is a dilution and a debasement, and surely no one with hundreds of MySpace or Facebook ÂfriendsÂ is so confused as to believe those are all real friendships. The impulse to collect as many ÂfriendsÂ as possible on a MySpace page is not an expression of the human need for companionship, but of a different need no less profound and pressing: the need for status. Unlike the painted portraits that members of the middle class in a bygone era would commission to signal their elite status once they rose in society, social networking websites allow us to create statusÂnot merely to commemorate the achievement of it. There is a reason that most of the MySpace profiles of famous people are fakes, often created by fans: Celebrities donÂt need legions of MySpace friends to prove their importance. ItÂs the rest of the population, seeking a form of parochial celebrity, that
does.

But status-seeking has an ever-present partner: anxiety. Unlike a portrait, which, once finished and framed, hung tamely on the wall signaling oneÂs status, maintaining status on MySpace or Facebook requires constant vigilance. As one 24-year-old wrote in a New York Times essay, ÂI am obsessed with testimonials and solicit them incessantly. They are the ultimate social currency, public declarations of the intimacy status of a relationship.... Every profile is a carefully planned media campaign.Â

The sites themselves were designed to encourage this. Describing the work of B.J. Fogg of Stanford University, who studies persuasion strategies used by social networking sites to increase participation, The New Scientist noted, ÂThe secret is to tie the acquisition of friends, compliments and statusÂspoils that humans will work hard forÂto activities that enhance the site.Â As Fogg told the magazine, ÂYou offer someone a context for gaining status, and they are going to work for that status.Â Network theorist Albert-LÃ¡szlÃ³ BarabÃ¡si notes that online connection follows the rule of preferential attachment Âthat is, Âwhen choosing between two pages, one with twice as many links as the other, about twice as many people link to the more connected page.Â As a result, Âwhile our individual choices are highly unpredictable, as a group we follow strict patterns.Â Our lemming-like pursuit of online status via the collection of hundreds of ÂfriendsÂ clearly follows this rule.
What, in the end, does this pursuit of virtual status mean for community and friendship? Writing in the 1980s in Habits of the Heart, sociologist Robert Bellah and his colleagues documented the movement away from close-knit, traditional communities, to Âlifestyle enclavesÂ which were defined largely by Âleisure and consumption.Â Perhaps today we have moved beyond lifestyle enclaves and into personality enclaves or Âidentity enclavesÂÂdiscrete virtual places in which we can be different (and sometimes contradictory) people, with different groups of like-minded, though ever-shifting, friends.

]]> *JLEverest The New Taxonomy of Friendship http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087225/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087225/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:41:09 PST Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism- Christine Rosen

The New Taxonomy of Friendship

There is a Spanish proverb that warns, ÂLife without a friend is death without a witness.Â In the world of online social networking, the warning might be simpler: ÂLife without hundreds of online ÂfriendsÂ is virtual death.Â On these sites, friendship is the stated raison dÂÃªtre. ÂA place for friends,Â is the slogan of MySpace. Facebook is a Âsocial utility that connects people with friends.Â Orkut describes itself as Âan online community that connects people through a network of trusted friends.Â FriendsterÂs name speaks for itself.

But ÂfriendshipÂ in these virtual spaces is thoroughly different from real-world friendship. In its traditional sense, friendship is a relationship which, broadly speaking, involves the sharing of mutual interests, reciprocity, trust, and the revelation of intimate details over time and within specific social (and cultural) contexts. Because friendship depends on mutual revelations that are concealed from the rest of the world, it can only flourish within the boundaries of privacy; the idea of public friendship is an oxymoron.

The hypertext link called ÂfriendshipÂ on social networking sites is very different: public, fluid, and promiscuous, yet oddly bureaucratized. Friendship on these sites focuses a great deal on collecting, managing, and ranking the people you know. Everything about MySpace, for example, is designed to encourage users to gather as many friends as possible, as though friendship were philately. If you are so unfortunate as to have but one MySpace friend, for example, your page reads: ÂYou have 1 friends,Â along with a stretch of sad empty space where dozens of thumbnail photos of your acquaintances should appear.

This promotes a form of frantic friend procurement. As one young Facebook user with 800 friends told John Cassidy in The New Yorker, ÂI always find the competitive spirit in me wanting to up the number.Â An associate dean at Purdue University recently boasted to the Christian Science Monitor that since establishing a Facebook profile, he had collected more than 700 friends. The phrase universally found on MySpace is, ÂThanks for the add!ÂÂan acknowledgment by one user that another has added you to his list of friends. There are even services like FriendFlood.com that act as social networking pimps: for a fee, they will post messages on your page from an attractive person posing as your Âfriend.Â As the founder of one such service told the New York Times in February 2007, he wanted to Âturn cyberlosers into social-networking magnets.Â

The structure of social networking sites also encourages the bureaucratization of friendship. Each site has its own terminology, but among the words that users employ most often is Âmanaging.Â The Pew survey mentioned earlier found that Âteens say social networking sites help them manage their friendships.Â There is something Orwellian about the management-speak on social networking sites: ÂChange My Top Friends,Â ÂView All of My FriendsÂ and, for those times when our inner Stalins sense the need for a virtual purge, ÂEdit Friends.Â With a few mouse clicks one can elevate or downgrade (or entirely eliminate) a relationship.

To be sure, we all rank our friends, albeit in unspoken and intuitive ways. One friend might be a good companion for outings to movies or concerts; another might be someone with whom you socialize in professional settings; another might be the kind of person for whom you would drop everything if he needed help. But social networking sites allow us to rank our friends publicly. And not only can we publicize our own preferences in people, but we can also peruse the favorites among our other acquaintances. We can learn all about the friends of our friendsÂoften without having ever met them in person.

]]> *JLEverest Indecent Exposure http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087153/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087153/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:38:02 PST Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism- Christine Rosen

Indecent Exposure

Enthusiasts praise social networking for presenting chances for identity-play; they see opportunities for all of us to be little Van Goghs and Warhols, rendering quixotic and ever-changing versions of ourselves for others to enjoy. Instead of a palette of oils, we can employ services such as PimpMySpace.org, which offers Âlayouts, graphics, background, and more!Â to gussy up an online presentation of self, albeit in a decidedly raunchy fashion: Among the most popular graphics used by PimpMySpace clients on a given day in June 2007 were short video clips of two women kissing and another of a man and an obese woman having sex; a picture of a gleaming pink handgun; and an image of the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants, looking alarmed and uttering a profanity.

This kind of coarseness and vulgarity is commonplace on social networking sites for a reason: itÂs an easy way to set oneself apart. Pharaohs and kings once celebrated themselves by erecting towering statues or, like the emperor Augustus, placing their own visages on coins. But now, as the insightful technology observer Jaron Lanier has written, ÂSince there are only a few archetypes, ideals, or icons to strive for in comparison to the vastness of instances of everything online, quirks and idiosyncrasies stand out better than grandeur in this new domain. I imagine AugustusÂ MySpace page would have pictured him picking his nose.Â And he wouldnÂt be alone. Indeed, this is one of the characteristics of MySpace most striking to anyone who spends a few hours trolling its millions of pages: it is an overwhelmingly dull sea of monotonous uniqueness, of conventional individuality, of distinctive sameness.

The world of online social networking is practically homogenous in one other sense, however diverse it might at first appear: its users are committed to self-exposure. The creation and conspicuous consumption of intimate details and images of oneÂs own and othersÂ lives is the main activity in the online social networking world. There is no room for reticence; there is only revelation. Quickly peruse a profile and you know more about a potential acquaintance in a moment than you might have learned about a flesh-and-blood friend in a month. As one college student recently described to the New York Times Magazine: ÂYou might run into someone at a party, and then you Facebook them: what are their interests? Are they crazy-religious, is their favorite quote from the Bible? Everyone takes great pains over presenting themselves. ItÂs like an embodiment of your personality.Â

It seems that in our headlong rush to join social networking sites, many of us give up one of the InternetÂs supposed charms: the promise of anonymity. As Michael Kinsley noted in Slate, in order to Âstake their claims as unique individuals,Â users enumerate personal information: ÂHere is a list of my friends. Here are all the CDs in my collection. Here is a picture of my dog.Â Kinsley is not impressed; he judges these sites Âvast celebrations of solipsism.Â

Social networkers, particularly younger users, are often naÃ¯ve or ill-informed about the amount of information they are making publicly available. ÂOne cannot help but marvel at the amount, detail, and nature of the personal information some users provide, and ponder how informed this information sharing can be,Â Carnegie Mellon researchers Alessandro Acquisti and Ralph Gross wrote in 2006. In a survey of Facebook users at their university, Acquisti and Gross Âdetected little or no relation between participantsÂ reported privacy attitudes and their likelihoodÂ of publishing personal information online. Even among the students in the survey who claimed to be most concerned about their privacyÂthe ones who worried about Âthe scenario in which a stranger knew their schedule of classes and where they livedÂÂabout 40 percent provided their class schedule on Facebook, about 22 percent put their address on Facebook, and almost 16 percent published both.

This kind of carelessness has provided fodder for many sensationalist news stories. To cite just one: In 2006, NBCÂs Dateline featured a police officer posing as a 19-year-old boy who was new in town. Although not grounded in any particular local community, the imposter quickly gathered more than 100 friends for his MySpace profile and began corresponding with several teenage girls. Although the girls claimed to be careful about the kind of information they posted online, when Dateline revealed that their new friend was actually an adult male who had figured out their names and where they lived, they were surprised. The danger posed by strangers who use social networking sites to prey on children is real; there have been several such cases. This danger was highlighted in July 2007 when... ]]> *JLEverest Wont You Be My Digital Neighbor? http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087137/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087137/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:37:15 PST Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism- Christine Rosen

WonÂt You Be My Digital Neighbor?

According to a survey recently conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than half of all Americans between the ages of twelve and seventeen use some online social networking site. Indeed, media coverage of social networking sites usually describes them as vast teenage playgroundsÂor wastelands, depending on oneÂs perspective. Central to this narrative is a nearly unbridgeable generational divide, with tech-savvy youngsters redefining friendship while their doddering elders look on with bafflement and increasing anxiety. This seems anecdotally correct; I canÂt count how many times I have mentioned social networking websites to someone over the age of forty and received the reply, ÂOh yes, IÂve heard about that MyFace! All the kids are doing that these days. Very interesting!Â
Numerous articles have chronicled adultsÂ attempts to navigate the world of social networking, such as the recent New York Times essay in which columnist Michelle Slatalla described the incredible embarrassment she caused her teenage daughter when she joined Facebook: Âeveryone in the whole world thinks its super creepy when adults have facebooks,Â her daughter instant-messaged her. Âunfriend paige right now. im serious.... i will be soo mad if you dont unfriend paige right now. actually.Â In fact, social networking sites are not only for the young. More than half of the visitors to MySpace claim to be over the age of 35. And now that the first generation of college Facebook users have graduated, and the site is open to all, more than half of Facebook users are no longer students. WhatÂs more, the proliferation of niche social networking sites, including those aimed at adults, suggests that it is not only teenagers who will nurture relationships in virtual space for the foreseeable future.

What characterizes these online communities in which an increasing number of us are spending our time? Social networking sites have a peculiar psychogeography. As researchers at the Pew project have noted, the proto-social networking sites of a decade ago used metaphors of place to organize their members: people were linked through virtual cities, communities, and homepages. In 1997, GeoCities boasted thirty virtual ÂneighborhoodsÂ in which ÂhomesteadersÂ or ÂGeoCitizensÂ could gatherÂÂHeartlandÂ for family and parenting tips, ÂSouthBeachÂ for socializing, ÂViennaÂ for classical music aficionados, ÂBroadwayÂ for theater buffs, and so on. By contrast, todayÂs social networking sites organize themselves around metaphors of the person, with individual profiles that list hobbies and interests. As a result, oneÂs entrÃ©e into this world generally isnÂt through a virtual neighborhood or community but through the revelation of personal information. And unlike a neighborhood, where one usually has a general knowledge of others who live in the area, social networking sites are gatherings of deracinated individuals, none of whose personal boastings and musings are necessarily trustworthy. Here, the old arbiters of communityÂgeographic location, family, role, or occupationÂhave little effect on relationships.

Also, in the offline world, communities typically are responsible for enforcing norms of privacy and general etiquette. In the online world, which is unfettered by the boundaries of real-world communities, new etiquette challenges abound. For example, what do you do with a ÂfriendÂ who posts inappropriate comments on your Wall? What recourse do you have if someone posts an embarrassing picture of you on his MySpace page? What happens when a friend breaks up with someoneÂdo you defriend the ex? If someone ÂfriendsÂ you and you donÂt accept the overture, how serious a rejection is it? Some of these scenarios can be resolved with split-second snap judgments; others can provoke days of agonizing.

Enthusiasts of social networking argue that these sites are not merely entertaining; they also edify by teaching users about the rules of social space. As Danah Boyd, a graduate student studying social networks at the University of California, Berkeley, told the authors of MySpace Unraveled, social networking promotes Âinformal learning.... ItÂs where you learn social norms, rules, how to interact with others, narrative, personal and group history, and media literacy.Â This is more a hopeful assertion than a proven fact, however. The question that isnÂt asked is how the technology itselfÂthe way it encourages us to present ourselves and interactÂlimits or imposes on that process of informal learning. All communities expect their members to internalize certain norms. Even individuals in the transient communities that form in public spaces obey these rules, for the most part; for example, patrons of libraries are expected to... ]]> *JLEverest Degrees of Separation http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087114/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087114/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:36:18 PST Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism- Christine Rosen

Degrees of Separation

It is worth pausing for a moment to reflect on the curious use of the word networking to describe this new form of human interaction. Social networking websites ÂconnectÂ users with a networkÂliterally, a computer network. But the verb to network has long been used to describe an act of intentional social connecting, especially for professionals seeking career-boosting contacts. When the word first came into circulation in the 1970s, computer networks were rare and mysterious. Back then, ÂnetworkÂ usually referred to television. But social scientists were already using the notion of networks and nodes to map out human relations and calculate just how closely we are connected.

In 1967, Harvard sociologist and psychologist Stanley Milgram, best known for his earlier Yale experiments on obedience to authority, published the results of a study about social connection that he called the Âsmall world experiment.Â ÂGiven any two people in the world, person X and person Z,Â he asked, Âhow many intermediate acquaintance links are needed before X and Z are connected?Â MilgramÂs research, which involved sending out a kind of chain letter and tracing its journey to a particular target person, yielded an average number of 5.5 connections. The idea that we are all connected by Âsix degrees of separationÂ (a phrase later popularized by playwright John Guare) is now conventional wisdom.

But is it true? Duncan J. Watts, a professor at Columbia University and author of Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age, has embarked on a new small world project to test MilgramÂs theory. Similar in spirit to MilgramÂs work, it relies on e-mail to determine whether Âany two people in the world can be connected via Âsix degrees of separation.ÂÂ Unlike MilgramÂs experiment, which was restricted to the United States, WattsÂs project is global; as he and his colleagues reported in Science, ÂTargets included a professor at an Ivy League university, an archival inspector in Estonia, a technology consultant in India, a policeman in Australia, and a veterinarian in the Norwegian army.Â Their early results suggest that Milgram might have been right: messages reached their targets in five to seven steps, on average. Other social networking theorists are equally optimistic about the smallness of our wireless world. In Linked: The New Science of Networks, Albert-LÃ¡szlÃ³ BarabÃ¡si enthuses, ÂThe world is shrinking because social links that would have died out a hundred years ago are kept alive and can be easily activated. The number of social links an individual can actively maintain has increased dramatically, bringing down the degrees of separation. Milgram estimated six,Â BarabÃ¡si writes. ÂWe could be much closer these days to three.Â

What kind of ÂlinksÂ are these? In a 1973 essay, ÂThe Strength of Weak Ties,Â sociologist Mark Granovetter argued that weaker relationships, such as those we form with colleagues at work or minor acquaintances, were more useful in spreading certain kinds of information than networks of close friends and family. Watts found a similar phenomenon in his online small world experiment: weak ties (largely professional ones) were more useful than strong ties for locating far-flung individuals, for example.

TodayÂs online social networks are congeries of mostly weak tiesÂno one who lists thousands of ÂfriendsÂ on MySpace thinks of those people in the same way as he does his flesh-and-blood acquaintances, for example. It is surely no coincidence, then, that the activities social networking sites promote are precisely the ones weak ties foster, like rumor-mongering, gossip, finding people, and tracking the ever-shifting movements of popular culture and fad. If this is our small world, it is one that gives its greatest attention to small things.

Even more intriguing than the actual results of MilgramÂs small world experimentÂour supposed closeness to each otherÂwas the swiftness and credulity of the public in embracing those results. But as psychologist Judith Kleinfeld found when she delved into MilgramÂs research (much of which was methodologically flawed and never adequately replicated), entrenched barriers of race and social class undermine the idea that we live in a small world. Computer networks have not removed those barriers. As Watts and his colleagues conceded in describing their own digital small world experiment, Âmore than half of all participants resided in North America and were middle class, professional, college educated, and Christian.Â

Nevertheless, our need to believe in the possibility of a small world and in the power of connection is strong, as evidenced by the popularity and proliferation of contemporary online social networks. Perhaps the question we should be... ]]> *JLEverest Making Connections http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087092/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087092/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:35:20 PST Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism- Christine Rosen

Making Connections

The earliest online social networks were arguably the Bulletin Board Systems of the 1980s that let users post public messages, send and receive private messages, play games, and exchange software. Some of those BBSs, like The WELL (Whole Earth ÂLectronic Link) that technologist Larry Brilliant and futurist Stewart Brand started in 1985, made the transition to the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s. (Now owned by Salon.com, The WELL boasts that it was Âthe primordial ooze where the online community movement was born.”

Other websites for community and connection emerged in the 1990s, including Classmates.com (1995), where users register by high school and year of graduation; Company of Friends, a business-oriented site founded in 1997; and Epinions, founded in 1999 to allow users to give their opinions about various consumer products.

A new generation of social networking websites appeared in 2002 with the launch of Friendster, whose founder, Jonathan Abrams, admitted that his main motivation for creating the site was to meet attractive women. Unlike previous online communities, which brought together anonymous strangers with shared interests, Friendster uses a model of social networking known as the ÂCircle of FriendsÂ (developed by British computer scientist Jonathan Bishop), in which users invite friends and acquaintancesÂthat is, people they already know and likeÂto join their network.

Friendster was an immediate success, with millions of registered users by mid-2003. But technological glitches and poor management at the company allowed a new social networking site, MySpace, launched in 2003, quickly to surpass it. Originally started by musicians, MySpace has become a major venue for sharing music as well as videos and photos. It is now the behemoth of online social networking, with over 100 million registered users. Connection has become big business: In 2005, Rupert MurdochÂs News Corporation bought MySpace for $580 million.

Besides MySpace and Friendster, the best-known social networking site is Facebook, launched in 2004. Originally restricted to college students, FacebookÂwhich takes its name from the small photo albums that colleges once gave to incoming freshmen and faculty to help them cope with meeting so many new peopleÂsoon extended membership to high schoolers and is now open to anyone. Still, it is most popular among college students and recent college graduates, many of whom use the site as their primary method of communicating with one another. Millions of college students check their Facebook pages several times every day and spend hours sending and receiving messages, making appointments, getting updates on their friendsÂ activities, and learning about people they might recently have met or heard about.

There are dozens of other social networking sites, including Orkut, Bebo, and Yahoo 360Âº. Microsoft recently announced its own plans for a social networking site called Wallop; the company boasts that the site will offer Âan entirely new way for consumers to express their individuality online.Â (It is noteworthy that Microsoft refers to social networkers as ÂconsumersÂ rather than merely ÂusersÂ or, say, “

eople.”

Niche social networking sites are also flourishing: there are sites offering forums and fellowship for photographers, music lovers, and sports fans. There are professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, that keep people connected with present and former colleagues and other business acquaintances. There are sites specifically for younger children, such as Club Penguin, which lets kids pretend to be chubby, colored penguins who waddle around chatting, playing games, earning virtual money, and buying virtual clothes. Other niche social networking sites connect like-minded self-improvers; the site 43things.com encourages people to share their personal goals. Click on Âwatch less TV,Â one of the goals listed on the site, and you can see the profiles of the 1,300 other people in the network who want to do the same thing. And for people who want to join a social network but donÂt know which niche site is right for them, there are sites that help users locate the proper online social networking community for their particular (or peculiar) interests.

Social networking sites are also fertile ground for those who make it their livesÂ work to get your attentionÂnamely, spammers, marketers, and politicians. Incidents of spamming and spyware on My... ]]> *JLEverest Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087056/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23087056/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:33:37 PST Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism- Christine Rosen
[link]

For centuries, the rich and the powerful documented their existence and their status through painted portraits. A marker of wealth and a bid for immortality, portraits offer intriguing hints about the daily life of their subjects—

rofessions, ambitions, attitudes, and, most importantly, social standing. Such portraits, as German art historian Hans Belting has argued, can be understood as “

ainted anthropology,Â with much to teach us, both intentionally and unintentionally, about the culture in which they were created.

Self-portraits can be especially instructive. By showing the artist both as he sees his true self and as he wishes to be seen, self-portraits can at once expose and obscure, clarify and distort. They offer opportunities for both self-expression and self-seeking. They can display egotism and modesty, self-aggrandizement and self-mockery.

Today, our self-portraits are democratic and digital; they are crafted from pixels rather than paints. On social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook, our modern self-portraits feature background music, carefully manipulated photographs, stream-of-consciousness musings, and lists of our hobbies and friends. They are interactive, inviting viewers not merely to look at, but also to respond to, the life portrayed online. We create them to find friendship, love, and that ambiguous modern thing called connection. Like painters constantly retouching their work, we alter, update, and tweak our online self-portraits; but as digital objects they are far more ephemeral than oil on canvas. Vital statistics, glimpses of bare flesh, lists of favorite bands and favorite poems all clamor for our attentionÂand it is the timeless human desire for attention that emerges as the dominant theme of these vast virtual galleries.

Although social networking sites are in their infancy, we are seeing their impact culturally: in language (where to friend is now a verb), in politics (where it is de rigueur for presidential aspirants to catalogue their virtues on MySpace), and on college campuses (where not using Facebook can be a social handicap). But we are only beginning to come to grips with the consequences of our use of these sites: for friendship, and for our notions of privacy, authenticity, community, and identity. As with any new technological advance, we must consider what type of behavior online social networking encourages. Does this technology, with its constant demands to collect (friends and status), and perform (by marketing ourselves), in some ways undermine our ability to attain what it promisesÂa surer sense of who we are and where we belong? The Delphic oracleÂs guidance was know thyself. Today, in the world of online social networks, the oracleÂs advice might be show thyself.

]]> *JLEverest Friendship in the 21st Century http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086982/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086982/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:29:31 PST Friendship in the 21st Century
[link]

I have 326 friends or is it 210 or only 40? It depends on which social networking service I log into. What is a friend in the 21st Century, or better yet who are your friends?

Webster defines a friend as "one attached to another by affection or esteem or a favored companion." Well I definitely don't have 326 favored companions, I am a bona fined introvert so that would be way too many friends for me to engage with.

Fortunately, for me I am able to maintain my sometimes shallow friendships under this part of the Webster definition: "one that is not hostile or one that is of the same nation, party, or group." This is how I would characterize most of my friendships on Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn, respectively.
TIME Magazine recently published an article that began by saying that:

Whether you realize it or not, social networking is something you do every day. Each time you tell a friend about a good movie, bore a neighbor with pictures from your kid's birthday party or catch up on gossip at work, you are reaching out to people you know to share ideas, experiences and information. The genius of social-networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook lies in their ability to capture the essence of these informal exchanges and distill them online into an expanding matrix of searchable, linked Web pages.

The statistics are amazing almost half of Internet users or 83 million people visited Myspace or Facebook, two of the most popular social networking sites. Both sites are also bringing in millions of dollars for their founders and owners.

A local newspaper wrote an article shortly after TIME's which explored some of the consequences of this boom.

It's common for users to create "real" friendships out of their virtual ones. For example, one person will see another is planning to attend a concert of a band they both like and ask to go along. Before long, they're hanging out regularly.

For members of Generation Y, this notion of broadcasting information about yourself in order to find friends is perfectly natural. One user of social networks called it "invited intrusion."

In his 2006 book "Friendship: An Expose," author Joseph Epstein praised the use of the telephone and e-mail to maintain friendships over distances, but said social networking sites "speak to the vast loneliness in the world."

Some observers think the digital age is promoting relationships of greater quantity but less quality.

Jeff Bardzell, a professor at IU's School of Informatics who teaches human-computer interaction, disagrees. As someone who uses and studies networking sites and interactive online games such as Second Life, he has used the technology to reconnect with high school friends and keep up long-distance relationships.

Rather than substituting for conventional friendships, Bardzell, 37, said digital tools are a way of maintaining "loose connections" that might otherwise wither and die.

"It's almost like your Christmas card list. That list is much bigger than the people you regularly interact with."

Many people using social networking tools insist that just because a friendship is virtual doesn't mean it isn't "real."

I would agree that this is the high-tech version of the Christmas Card list and in some ways provides more depth. Christmas cards might include a one or two page synopsis of the year with a couple of photos. Social Networking sites allow real-time uploading of pictures, stories, and information that would often get left out of the letter.

Browsing through my list there are people that I never would have heard from again after high school, college, summer camp, or whatever. This has provided a way to stay connected and have a "relationship" for the long haul. Who knows when our paths might cross again. A friend from college that I lost touch with lives in Minneapolis and we are going to connect when I move there. I would never have known that without Facebook.

I also use it to stay in touch with and keep tabs on what kids I work with at church are really thinking and doing. This can be good and bad! Stalking can be taken to a different, more passive level, which isn't a good thing. We all must understand the boundaries and realities of what we are posting.

I think this social networking craze is going to continue to grow and expand as will my friends list. I will try and expand with it!

]]> *JLEverest Pro-Am Revolution http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086938/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086938/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:27:49 PST Pro-Am Revolution

I thought some of you would like to have a look at this video; the issue that I would like to raise with you guys is perhaps the fundamental topic behind Charles LeadbeaterÂs talk; the Pro-Am Revolution (Pro-Am the shorthand term for a Professional Amateur).

I find that the content of his presentation frequently drifts in and out of relevance for us. But where possible, I have tried to choose a significant part of the talk of which hopefully offers the most appropriate form of context for our Exhibition Proposal.

The link below will take you to the YouTube page showing the entire video-

[link]
perhaps focus on the content 6:44 up to 12:44)

N.B
After watching the clip, Susan Diab (2nd Year Course Leader) sent me this email;

Consider the sponsors BMW especially their few minutes' ad at the very end of the video about cherishing ideas leading to the development of the 'Ultimate Driving Machine' - this is innovation couched very firmly within venture capitalism. We should ask ourselves to whom is Charles Leadbeater speaking and with what aim(s) in mind? The shift he describes between closed organisations and the open movement is also very appropriate to our discussion and the prediction he makes that those who know how to understand the new organisational models that arise will be very successful should also be considered. What does he mean by successful? In other words is the debate here about how to manage those shifts between open and closed models really about getting in there, understanding what is going on in order to profit from it or is 'success' about seeing the emergence of new societal models that are more openly democratic, participative in a true rather than a tokenistic manner and which encourage a fairer distribution of wealth or bring about an intensification of the stratification of rich and poor?

A wider context must be understood for the production and reception of this video. There is currently and has been for at least the last ten years a great deal of debate about the role of creativity in innovation and industry. And specifically about how to harness that creativity in the service of business. The recognition that ideas create capital. This is the basis of what has become known as the Creative Industries. Tony Blair made much of this in his 1997 election campaign. And there was in 1999 a report called 'All Our Futures' written by Ken Robinson (who also features in various online videos talking 'inspirationally' about creativity, he is another 'creativity guru' if you like) about the role of creativity in (school) education. One question is how those who contribute to creativity (which, if we follow Beuys' revolutionary call is all of us) can do so without that creative contribution being co-opted and owned by corporations who create profit out of it which does not feed back to the contributors. It's the age-old process of incorporation that is outlined so clearly in Dick Hebdige's book 'Subculture'. With the increase in interactive technologies the model of the corporation incorporating the subculture has changed so that now the user of, say, a particular piece of software, lets the manufacturer know straight away what the product should be like, as Leadbeater says, the consumer becomes the designer. But the consumer desiger does not earn the designer's fee. He or she gets a 'better' product, perhaps but in other ways is doing the work of the control organisation thus cutting down on the number of employees that control organisation needs and saving them money. The anecdote that Leadbeater tells about games players travelling many miles to Shanda's offices to reclaim the histories of the avatars they have created and lost is not, to my mind, funny, but tragic and signifies the ownership of the person by the company. Much as an art market that buys and sells 'self-expressive' works by contemporary artists might be seen to be similarly offering to the super rich a vicarious experience of life that they otherwise would not have.

It's a pertinent and important debate and one that could be brought right into the heart of the exhibition and the discussions we have around it. As the students bring into their study more of their real interests and concerns rather than accepting top-down ideas about art that they are presented with by the institution and in turn seek to emulate, as the boundaries between teacher and student are blurred and the notion of us all as co-learners is introduced, OPENLY, then even more interesting questions arise concerning the funding of the institution of education of art...

Big questions, good debates to have...

]]> *JLEverest Death of the alpha male? http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086819/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086819/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:22:37 PST Death of the alpha male?
Dr Pam Spurr
[link]

Just how manly a man do you want? Our sex and relationships expert Dr Pam Spurr asks: is it time to bring back the alpha male?

We women desperately need to rethink the type of man we want. Not only are we a bit confused about whether we want a sensitive 'New Man' or an old-fashioned 'Alpha Male, Man's Man' (or, to be honest, any point in between because we're so fussy!) that the poor chaps are getting confused themselves!

Many women have come to think that their ideal man is a Hugh Grant type - a bit sensitive, endearing and kind of irresistible. But why is he so irresistible? Because we think he needs his personality dragged out of him. And in our fantasy worlds we flatter ourselves that we're the one to do it.

He can be sensitive as long as he's a success

New research has shown that this Hugh Grant type (that's a bit self-deprecating) is indeed a success with us women. But (and here's the rub) he can only be a success with us if he's actually already successful when we meet him. Confused? You will be.

It's like this: if he's already achieved many things in his life, we don't mind him being all sensitive and taking the p*** out of himself because underneath, we already know he has the qualities many of us still want in our men - success, confidence, and (dare we say it) the 'alpha' factor.

The trouble is, many of the men we now meet no longer have these qualities.

This leaves me thinking that the 'New Man' type we associate with Hugh isn't what we really want at all, because deep down us women want to drag the tiger out of him. We believe Mr New Man is hiding a Real Man behind his sweet, but bumbling, facade.

I know from experience that many women don't want a guy who is completely sensitive and emotional through-and-through. Lately, I've heard so many complaints along the lines of: Can't he be a man and ask me out? Why do I have to do the chasing? Why am I always organising our dates? What happened to old-fashioned men? And so on.

So who's to blame for the state of our feelings towards men?

Let's be honest, I think we've only got ourselves to blame for running good men into the ground. For making men feel over the last 10 or 20 years that they need to be as soft as we are, shed tears whenever they want to and ask us for emotional support.

We've done this in so many ways including (rightly) learning how to assert ourselves in every area of our lives but unfortunately forgetting that this shouldn't mean taking control of every aspect of our relationships.

We've demanded so many rights in the workplace (again as we obviously should) but we have forgotten that this will simultaneously crush the chance of a little bit of a good old-fashioned flirting. Now many men are frightened of overstepping the mark in the office, which means we may find ourselves having to do the asking out if we're interested in someone. Many women are also now having babies on their own, claiming that they don't need men because they've given up on finding Mr Perfect.

No wonder men are becoming wary about how they should act around us and in particular, being 'manly'. Yet we secretly miss the times gone by. For example, when we were upset and simply wanted a strong shoulder to lean on - we got one. Now we have a situation where they get emotional with us about something too - because they think we want them to be as sensitive as we are.

When it comes to things like romance - where we once slyly coaxed a little bit out of them - we are now more likely to be the ones booking the candlelit restaurant, the sexy weekends away and planning the little surprises. Also, because women are so good at juggling so many balls, we tend to ignore our partners' and boyfriends' suggestions and advice. Instead we've simply taken over!

Our fantasy men

No wonder we all fantasise about the Freddie Flintoffs and Brad Pitts of this world - the men who look like good old-fashioned Alpha Males that are strong and manly, who know their own minds and can be counted on to tell us so. Who knows though, behind closed doors such men might also have become sensitive little souls bossed around by their women!

Are we asking too much of our men?

In my opinion, yes we are, because we want them to be all things when we want them to be. We might want a strong and solid type of man, but then we also want them to be sensitive when we think they should be. They have to have a backbone of steel when we want to lean on them, but at other times we want them to share a girly-style chat with us. Or go shopping with us and make us feel good about ever... ]]> *JLEverest Robert Mapplethorpe http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086766/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086766/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:20:51 PST Robert Mapplethorpe- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Mapplethorpe (November 4, 1946 Â March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and naked men. The frank, homosexual eroticism of some of the work of his middle period triggered a more general controversy about the public funding of artworks.

Biography

Mapplethorpe was born and grew up as a Roman Catholic of English and Irish heritage in Our Lady of the Snows Parish in Floral Park, New York, a neighborhood of Long Island. He received a B.F.A. from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he majored in graphic arts.[1]

Mapplethorpe took his first photographs soon thereafter using a Polaroid camera. In the mid-1970s, he acquired a Hasselblad medium-format camera and began taking photographs of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, including artists, composers, and socialites. In the 1980s he refined his aesthetic, photographing statuesque male and female nudes, delicate flower still lifes, and highly formal portraits of artists and celebrities. Mapplethorpe's first studio was at 24 Bond Street in Manhattan. In the 1980s Sam Wagstaff gave him $500,000 to buy the top-floor loft at 35 West 23rd Street, where he lived and had his shooting space. He kept the Bond Street loft as his darkroom.

Mapplethorpe died on the morning of March 9, 1989, in a Boston, Massachusetts hospital from complications arising from AIDS; he was 42 years old. His ashes were buried in Queens, New York, in his mother's grave, marked 'Maxey'.

Nearly a year before his death, the ailing Mapplethorpe helped found the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc. His vision for the Foundation was that it would be "the appropriate vehicle to protect his work, to advance his creative vision, and to promote the causes he cared about"[2]. Since his death, the Foundation has not only functioned as his official Estate and helped promote his work throughout the world, but it has also raised and donated millions of dollars to fund medical research in the fight against AIDS and HIV infection[2].

Art

Mapplethorpe worked primarily in the studio, particularly towards the end of his career. Common subjects include flowers, especially orchids and calla lilies; celebrities, including Andy Warhol, Deborah Harry, Richard Gere, Peter Gabriel, Grace Jones, and Patti Smith (a Patti Smith portrait [3] from 1986 recalls Albrecht Durer's 1500 self-portrait[4]); homoerotic and BDSM acts (including Coprophagia), and classical nudes. Mapplethorpe's X Portfolio series sparked national attention in the early 1990's when it was included in The Perfect Moment, a traveling exhibition funded by National Endowment for the Arts. The portfolio includes some of Mapplethorpe's most explicit imagery, including a self-portrait with a bullwhip inserted in his anus.[5] Though his work had been regularly displayed in publicly funded exhibitions, conservative and religious organizations, such as the American Family Association seized on this exhibition to vocally oppose government support for what they called "nothing more than the sensational presentation of potentially obscene material."[6] As a result, Mapplethorpe became something of a cause celebre for both sides of the American Culture war. The installation of The Perfect Moment in Cincinnati resulted in the unsuccessful prosecution of the Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati and its director, Dennis Barrie, on charges of "pandering obscenity".

His sexually-charged photographs of black men have been criticized as exploitative.[7] Such criticism was the subject of a work by American conceptual artist Glenn Ligon, Notes on the Margins of the Black Book (1991-1993). Ligon juxtaposes several of Mapplethorpe's most iconic images of black men appropriated from the 1988 publication, Black Book, with various critical texts to complicate the racial undertones of the imagery.

Corcoran Scandal

[6] In June 1989 Pop Artist Lowell Blair Nesbitt became involved with the scandal involving fellow artist Robert Mapplethorpe. The Corcoran Gallery of Art (Museum) in Washington D.C. had agreed to host a solo exhibit of Robert Mapplethorpe's works without making a stipulation as to what type of subject matter would be used. Mapplethorpe decided to make his famed debut of "sexually suggestive" photographs in Washington D.C., which was a new series that he had explored shortly before his death. The hierarchy of the Corcoran and even certain members of Congress were horrified when the works were revealed to them, thus the museum refused to go forth with the exhibit. It was at this time that Lowell Blair Nesbitt stepped forward; he was a long time friend of Mapplethorpe and he revealed that he had a 1,500,000.00 USD bequest to the museum in his wil... ]]> *JLEverest The Boy by Germaine Greer- Holly Combes Review http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086737/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086737/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:19:38 PST The Boy by Germaine Greer- Holly CombeÂs Review

Until recently, girls have always been the ones looked at rather than the ones looking. Is this a right, a freedom, or a burden? Should boys be able to enjoy - or suffer - the same fate? Is Germaine Greer right when she claims boys lose out by not being considered beautiful? With these questions in mind, Holly Combe reviews GreerÂs ÂThe Boy.Â

When I heard Germaine Greer had written a book about the beautiful boy, I was very excited. Right from when I became aware of my sexuality, I have maintained a sharp eye for separating the boys from the men and it has nearly always been the bright-eyed, ready-for-anything, malleable boys who have come out tops. At school, there was no crush on some ÂdashingÂ male teacher. I found watching the boys playfully wrestling during lunch hour to be far more engaging.

Seeing Greer talking on TV about the joy of the boy really inspired my imagination, thinking about all the lovelies I have ever admired and wondering how many of them have allowed themselves to retain even a fraction of the splendour that made them so gorgeous at the time.

As Greer recently said on the South Bank show, the beauty of the boy is fleeting in its nature. She talks, early on in the book, of boyhood as a very specific, short passage of time and, in interviews, has spoken of Âsimpering 30 year olds with shaved chestsÂ with disdain. I agree there is an element of physical beauty in a teenage boy that is often lost with age. However, I would also say the greater loss occurs when the male is taught to reject the parts of him that are open and trusting (i.e boyish) in favour of jaded and prescriptive dogma (i.e Âconfining himself to the narrower scope available to him in patriarchal societyÂ, as Greer puts it later in the book).

ÂThe BoyÂ has been well publicised. Before even looking at it, I felt like I had read it already. I found GreerÂs constant references, when she was plugging the book, to sperm that Âruns like tap waterÂ quite arousing at first (in a rather silly far-fetched sort of way). But before long, I was cringing whenever she came on TV, hoping she would say something different this time.

I started to wonder why she keeps repeating herself. After all, this is Professor Germaine Greer, ÂEverybodyÂs Favourite FeministÂ and an undisputed expert at self-promotion. Is her central message actually about spunk? Is she simply getting excited about the delight of getting covered in a big warm jet of youth-juice? Or is she actually spreading the word on how virile boys are? Of course, we all know that volume is not actually indicative of potency but, in terms of immediacy, the image of ever-flowing sperm falls perfectly in line with a typically acceptable masculine role. IÂd say Greer keeps rapturously going on about sperm because she knows that the general heterosexist, reproduction-focussed public will subconsciously dig that particular sound bite. If the archetypal boyÂs subtlety and prettiness is counterbalanced by his ability to impregnate, conventional society will probably find him more palatable. Greer knows which one-liners are most likely to get the public onto her vibe and, as usual, is being very astute.

So how does Greer define a boy? Early on in the book, she says that a boy is someone who is Âno longer a child but not yet a manÂ. However, when looking at the selected pictures, it becomes apparent that this is a matter of opinion. I would say that, in TitianÂs depiction, the twelve-year-old Ranuccio Farnese appears (as his age suggests) to be a child. A self-portrait by Van Dyk is included in the book because it is said to nostalgically derive from a self-portrait he painted when he was in his teens. I havenÂt seen the earlier self- portrait, but would say he looks at least 35 in the picture included, an age that would no doubt qualify him as a man by most viewersÂ standards.

If boys are looked at, they become more Âlike girlsÂ and conventional society still sees being Âlike a girlÂ as an inferior state.

One of this bookÂs greatest strengths is its accessibility. Whatever your sexuality or gender, this is a book that will persuade you of the immense beauty of boys. Whether itÂs Louis DavidÂs Âsun-tanned, hard-bodied Cupid who grins knowingly at the viewer as if he were a street boy slipping out of the bed of a sated princessÂ or a naked David Cassidy (actually slightly older at 24) squeezing his slim but muscular arms across his smooth chest and swaying his nubile hips; youÂd have to be extremely blinkered not to acknowledge the appeal of at least some of what this book showcases.

Greer successfully convinces the reader/viewer that boys have a special attractiveness that sets them apart from girls, women and men. What does society have to lose if it just admits tha... ]]> *JLEverest Questions to the Deviously Deviant? http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086640/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086640/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:14:08 PST Deviously Deviants

To whom it may concern.

I have been working on a photographic project focused on the idea of public and private for about a year now and was wondering whether I could perhaps ask you some questions that might help inform my understanding of this subject a bit better? I would be so grateful for a response, no matter how long or short it may be?

Questions:

Do you set up the camera to take the photograph yourself or do you get someone else to take the image? I ask this because IÂm interested in the type of relationship that exists between the camera and the performer- when I have taken photographs of myself, I have always done them late at night and in the privacy of my own bedroom.

Is the actual moment when youÂre involved in composing yourself in the frame a private moment that solely becomes shared when elevated into the online domain, or is not? Do you involve other people; perhaps best girlfriends, boyfriends, partners or lovers within the process of taking your photograph? I wonder if you could shed some light on the environment and circumstances in which these images originate from?

How does your online lifestyle and personality (particularly on Deviant Art) differ from that in real life?

What does the internet offer you that real life doesnÂt, assuming that there is a discrepancy between your everyday/working activities and your online endeavours?

What reaction or response do you anticipate from the ÂwatchersÂ of your page?

Thankyou for your time...

]]> *JLEverest Petra Joy http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086514/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086514/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:08:54 PST Petra Joy- Author, Photographer, Film-maker

Âspecializes in female sexuality, erotic art and female self-realization. To date, Petra has directed and produced over 70 documentaries for international TV stations such as Channel 4, National Geographic, and WDR. Since 1990, the main focus of her work has been lifestyle and sexuality.Â

[link]

Questions:

In the Metro interview, the people you use within your films are quoted as Ânon-professionalsÂ. If we could instead regard them simply as members of the public, what affect does this have with the eventual audience to your films? Are we experiencing a shift in reality, perhaps almost to a tangible level, or is there something else to be gained from this?

In your opinion, how is the level of sensuality transcended from the participants to the viewer, particularly as a great deal of impetus is inclusively placed on the non-professional and her fantasy?
Has the activity of public broadcasting affected your style as a director, maybe even the content of the fantasy depicted in some scenes and images within your photographs?

In your photographs, are there any psychological barriers, created from your presence and position behind the camera that both you and the participants have to overcome? Particularly in reference to growing number of self taken images and recordings found online where the role of the photographer carries less significance.

References:
[link]

]]> *JLEverest Narcissim on the Internet http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086464/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086464/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:06:27 PST Study: Facebook profiles can be used to detect narcissism

Source: University of Georgia
[link]

A new University of Georgia study suggests that online social networking sites such as Facebook might be useful tools for detecting whether someone is a narcissist.
"We found that people who are narcissistic use Facebook in a self-promoting way that can be identified by others," said lead author Laura Buffardi, a doctoral student in psychology who co-authored the study with associate professor W. Keith Campbell.

The researchers, whose results appear in the October issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, gave personality questionnaires to nearly 130 Facebook users, analyzed the content of the pages and had untrained strangers view the pages and rate their impression of the owner's narcissism.

The researchers found that the number of Facebook friends and wallposts that individuals have on their profile pages correlates with narcissism. Buffardi said this is consistent with how narcissists behave in the real-world, with numerous yet shallow relationships. Narcissists are also more likely to choose glamorous, self-promoting pictures for their main profile photos, she said, while others are more likely to use snapshots.

Untrained observers were able to detect narcissism, too. The researchers found that the observers used three characteristics Â quantity of social interaction, attractiveness of the individual and the degree of self promotion in the main photo Â to form an impression of the individual's personality. "People aren't perfect in their assessments," Buffardi said, "but our results show they're somewhat accurate in their judgments."

Narcissism is a trait of particular interest, Campbell said, because it hampers the ability form healthy, long-term relationships. "Narcissists might initially be seen as charming, but they end up using people for their own advantage," Campbell said. "They hurt the people around them and they hurt themselves in the long run."

The tremendous growth of social networking sites Â Facebook now has 100 million users, for example Â has led psychologists to explore how personality traits are expressed online. Buffardi and Campbell chose Facebook because it's the most popular networking site among college students and because it has a fixed format that makes it easier for researchers to compare user pages.

Some researchers in the past have found that personal Web pages are more popular among narcissists, but Campbell said there's no evidence that Facebook users are more narcissistic than others.

"Nearly all of our students use Facebook, and it seems to be a normal part of people's social interactions," Campbell said. "It just turns out that narcissists are using Facebook the same way they use their other relationships Â for self promotion with an emphasis on quantity of over quality."

Still, he points out that because narcissists tend to have more contacts on Facebook, any given Facebook user is likely to have an online friend population with a higher proportion of narcissists than in the real world. Right now it's too early to predict if or how the norms of online self-promotion will change, Campbell said, since the study of social networking sites is still in its infancy.

"We've undergone a social change in the last four or five years and now almost every student manages their relationships through Facebook Â something that few older people do," Campbell said. "It's a completely new social world that we're just beginning to understand."

]]> *JLEverest The Protean Self Project- Online at Deviant Art http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086363/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23086363/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:01:31 PST Photography Project: The Protean Self (2009)
Deviant Art

I have been looking at the ever-more common use of the camera, found firmly behind the boom of social interactivity. In this series I have repeatedly used myself as the primary subject within each frame to reference the growing plethora of self-taken images; readily found on the internet and extensively on many of the major social-networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and Myspace.

Within the cyberspace sphere itself, there floats a justifiable amount of concern for an online society, for who appear to be turning to public broadcasts in an attempt to express private thoughts. With this network working to its full potential, this attitude and deviant conduct will find a permanent place within our current culture and subsequently promote itself for other users to emulate.

However, when I consider the user in more detail, both the role and significance of the internet in this relationship quickly decreases. These sites, much like Deviant Art, only offer the mere template to encourage the consumer to project their activity out into the global, online domain. Instead, it all critically boils down to how the user handles this form of technology in order to quantify any consequential actions. The reasons behind such actions might include (and also range from) inherent narcissistic personalities all the way through to the seemingly innocent idea of play- where the intrigue of misrepresentation; sometimes achieved through particularly suggestive, evocative material, is rewarded with an increase in Âfriend requestsÂ and image viewings or popularity.

[link]

]]> *JLEverest KKFF- Exhibition Statement (2008) http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23085990/ http://JLEverest.deviantart.com/journal/23085990/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:43:03 PST The Protean Self (started in 2007)
KNIFE KNIFE FORK FORK Exhibition (2008)

John explores the socially used and developing term Âthe profile pictureÂ ahead of its predecessor, Âthe self portraitÂ.

Ever more apparent in his recent photographic series, John Everest continues to explore the duality existing between desires and the domestic space. Using childhood and adulthood aspirations, John views his body as a malleable icon which is used to construct a variety of consciously organised images. Undoubtedly manipulative and evocative at times, his images appear to illustrate perceptual spaces created in the mind of the performer, whilst presenting a sense of familiarity for the viewer to consider.

Returning to a more direct and focal point within his practice, the artist boldly uses himself in a number of personally documented images, individually taken and directed within his own bedroom. The audience is compelled to confront the invitation to view his work against the intrusion it may appear to illustrate.

Although the artist remains the subject of thought throughout the work, importantly for John, he is never viewed in preference to the surrounding space, enabling the audience to consider the context in which these actions and resulting images come from.

[link]

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