Thoughts about Facebook
Curator - Dr. Merav Stark
The photographers of the Snapshot Club examined the new language of Facebook, which became one of the most prominent and highly popular form of social media in the world.
The exhibit had three components:
1. A collective project
2. An individual project
3. The project that created a link between the collective and the individual project
A collective project
The sharing of photographs in social media such as Facebook and Instagram changed the way people communicated with photography. This phenomenon was the basis of the collective project of the photographers of the Snapshot Club. They examined the phenomenon which has become prominent in our individual lives and, to greater extent this phenomenon also forms our social and cultural world and thus changes the rules of the game of photography. In 2012, Snapshot Club photographers investigated Facebook and the power of social media as photographs became the medium for interpersonal communication. A small excerpt from the project is presented here.
The project began with one photograph of Martin Parr, with each of the photographers reacting with his/her own image. In the second phase, the photographers responded to the pictures the members had already posted. The process was complex. The photographer had to look at the photographs posted on Facebook, focus on one image and recall his or her own photograph, retrieve it from the archive and post the chosen one. The text, of course, was an integral part of the process and the photographs posted were chosen on the basis of insight gained from the photograph and the text.
On Facebook pages, images appear one beneath the other, but in the exhibit, the images were shown in the format of a genealogical tree, which allows the viewer to examine the connections among the photographs.
That perspective leads to complex responses: On the one hand, the flow and combination of distinctive images are pleasing to the eye. On the other hand, the abundance of images makes it difficult to focus (in internet slang, TMI, too much information).
The vast information reduces the time a viewer will dedicate to the photograph, leading to a superficial viewing of the photograph, and its message is not internalized. The outcome leads to the controversial statement: “There is no need to take photographs because everything has already been photographed.”
In addition, the succession of photographs creates a butterfly effect: According to the chaos theory, the flapping of a butterfly’s wings can cause a tornado. In the same way, a succession of associations in photographs can lead to varied and unanticipated outcomes. And thus, the response to the photographs takes two forms:
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The response to one photograph which is similar to another affirms its visibility and gives it the form of small talk. Many of the responses fit into that category.
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The response to a photograph which is different from the others adds a dimension and creates a story told as a sequence of events or alters the train of thought with new ideas or information. These responses lead to new inferences and associations.
The Individual Project
The individual project was created when each member of the Snapshot Club focused on one subject close to his or her heart. The process of this focus created a space to learn and explore through varied dimensions: technical skills, the photographer’s vision and the composition of an aesthetic and social statement. As each photographer developed an individual project and analyzed his or her images, compelling insights emerged. The photographers were confronted with the challenge of developing a series of images, while maintaining the focus on a single subject with a distinct visual language. Each project conveys a unique statement, and as an exhibit, the images raise a range of issues which address both photographers and Israeli society at large.
Connection between the Facebook project and the individual project
In order to examine the connection between Facebook project and Individual project two folders were opened to each photographer. One contained photos from the photographer’s individual project. The second folder contained images from the members’ collective “Thoughts on Facebook” project that each photographer had “liked".
The photographs from the two folders were examined to see if there was a visual or conceptual link between them.
The result showed that the strong affinity between the images in the two folders are visual, conceptual or emotional. The natural connection between the two projects raises questions about objectivity and awareness, or rather, the lack of awareness of the way we are influenced by the images we are exposed to when we surf the net.
