A new month, a new mural in Stucley Place. This piece was installed by French artist, Ador, with the help of his newfound collaborator and friend, Sémor. The work reminds me of an article and its accompanying illustration that I recently saw in the Wall Street Journal. The article, entitled When Instagram Culture Ruins a Vacation addresses the author Dan Crane’s view that our constant hunger for validation through social media is fundamentally altering the way we understand and interact with an experience. Drawing on what little I know of Street Art, Amor & Sémor’s piece looks to be hinting at a very similar idea – note selfie sticks and reference to Banksy’s work in background. Anyway , I’ll leave it to the design students and the professors to tell us exactly what it all means. Please tell me what you think in the comments section.
I thought a lot but only my students 7 years old will be able to respond…
hmmm…seems whites, or in this case pinks, are a minority and are on the way to being swept under the carpet.
big mother is watching you comes to mind. I will be well interested to hear the real message
it baffles me the number of people who now view their experience through the back of their phone or restage the event for their GoPro, and so miss the point of being there at all
i completely agree!
Do I detect HM the Queen, peering over the wall in horror?!
If I had to guess (and this is a pure guess), I would say that this could be social commentary on society believing that their social media accounts are viewed by only our family, friends and followers but in actuality, we are being watched by government (Queen reference) as well and social media serves as a way to connect with each other and a way for government to spy on us as well. I also think the art in the background could signify how we sweep our true selves under the rug and put on a happy face for the general public. That’s my interpretation. I would be curious what the artist’s intentions were when creating this.
I think it is interesting that although there are two selfies in progress, nobody is chatting on a cell phone? What are the chances of that in a line-up? I think it is interesting that something is being hidden “under” the wall. I think it is interesting that a pseudo-regal character is being nosey. I think that the artist is an interesting character, but I would probably not understand his/her explanation of the work! 🙂