Emerging social networking resources like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.com, are becoming useful for more than image browsing the late night stints of your peers or stalking the where-abouts of your latest love interest. The work of a dozen artists who use a variety of budding technologies to make their art is currently on display at the New Haven based research lab, Haskins Laboratories.
Matt Held, whose work was appropriately featured on the event flyer, showcased a fascinating project. His mission began in November when Held launched the facebook group “I’ll have my facebook portrait painted by Matt Held.” Now exceeding 3,300 “friends” his work has begun to sell rapidly.
One of Held’s 200 muses, New York based artists An Xiao was there in high spirits with her texting thumb ready as she showcased her work, “Nothing to Tweet Home About (Self Portrait in Postcards).” Although incredibly enthusiastic, the work evoked a sense of dry reality as those familiar and undeniably addicted to the trend (myself included) realized the disconnect between older forms of communication and technologically simplified messages. Xiao explains, “The easier the communication device, the more trivial the message being sent.” Exemplifying the message further, she was sending postcards to Haskins Laboratories throughout the duration of the show, and twittering about the Status Update!
Xiao, along with artist/panelist Sharon Butler, of Eastern Connecticut State University, suggested that the best Twitterers were indeed people who saw the medium as an outlet for performance. During panel discussion, she and Haskins' CEO, Philip Rubin, encouraged attendees to "Please keep your cell phone on." Twittering was always encouraged.
The question was on every body’s mind: ‘What are you doing right now?”
Other participating artists include: Cat Balco, Jeremiah Teipen, Rachel Perry Welty, Katie Ring, Len Zimmerman, Kevin Van, Greg Garvey, Heather D. Freeman, Keith Johnson, and the curators themselves Debbie Hesse and Donna Ruff (of the Greater New Haven Arts Council).
For more information on the Status Update event and the artists, visit New Haven Independent
Haskins Laboratories:
300 George Street
New Haven, CT 06511
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