Alta kunstforening
2019 My social network // Book release and exhibition
”My social network // Dagens bilde 300512-290513”
Grethe Irene Einarsen presents in book form as well as on the walls a project that she worked on every day for a year. A very simple concept at first: every day one photograph is selected from the many she has taken that day to be posted on the artist's own Facebook profile.
Selection criterion: That the photograph says something essential – from the artist's own point of view – about that particular day. And so it went on for the 365 days of the year. Functions such as feedback and "likes" became an important part of the book project, almost like a kind of sociological study. Which photographs do people cling to, and which are passed over in silence? And who is it that likes and comments on photos?
"My social network" examines our casual dealings with personal photographs in a digital world, at the same time one can choose to see the project as a personal memory book with everyday pictures from an ordinary life; as an expression of a universal human desire to keep time still. In a continuation of the project, Einarsen has invited 3 different artists to select approximately 10 images each. The images are taken out of their original context as they are enlarged and remain as a separate exhibition in the room. With this approach, the focus is shifted from the decisive moment to the revealing gaze. Will the narrative aspect change as the context changes? What stories do the invited artists convey with their selections? In the exhibition space, the audience is invited to make their own selection and imprint in the form of photographing and publishing on social media.
