NETWORK CULTURE

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With Disneyland being one of the most visited places according to Instagram- it’s no wonder we are seeking out locations and places of recommendation that is seen on social media. Once in these places we are subjected to act differently, by taking selfies and photos without properly enjoying the space, as that’s what is expected and seen on social media 

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Japan, Pokemon Go. 

Our concert of space and place has been drastically altered with the creation of this popular internet sensation. With the aim of encouraging fitness and exercise it quickly became a space where people tuned into screen and networks rater than their surroundings. By including real life environments, our perception has been altered and we now think of these ‘hotspots’ as something more. 

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“Beneath their taut skin and rosy cheeks you could detect the sagging grey flesh of old ideas”

Recycled culture has become a slippery slope, a cycle we can’t break. Begging the question is that all our network culture is? Something we have recycled and will continue to do for eons? 

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“Is nostalgia stopping our culture's ability to surge forward, or are we nostalgic precisely because our culture has stopped moving forward” Reynolds (2011) 

Are we too stuck in the past to fully move forward and created new culture, to explore the unknown and evolve? O r are we stuck in this endless cycle of revival? 

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‘Nature is not what is visible to the eye – it shows the inner images of the soul – the image on the back side of the eyes.’ Edvard Munch 

Highlights a side to us we want to portray to the world. Selfies and self portraits have become a way of self expressionism, a statement and a natural occurrence with little thought. 

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Dmitry Morozov Russian inventor has created a machine that converts music from ipods and phones into paintings. 

“Networks are changing our sense of community, connection and citizenship; bio-technologies are rendering the precision design of life a reality, for better or for worse” The Calvert Journal (2015) 

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“Life-altering technologies often start as minor curiosities and evolve into major necessities with little reflection on how they reform our perceptions or even how they came to be” Panero (2013) 

Something we have taken for granted is the new Uber service, given little thought and appreciated for its low cost and connivence its hard to imagine what life was like before it was created. 

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“functions variously as a communicative device, a cultural formation, a technique of administration, a storage or archival device, a poetic form, and a mediator. It can be past, present, or future-oriented – retroactive, administrative, or prescriptive... and thus unearths the “nondiscursive infrastructure and (hidden) programs of media.” Young (2013) 

There are many different types of lists and how they can function, the new way of recording and deconstructing is seen above, the real question is how does this function in a network culture, as a reminder or way of cataloguing or something else entirely?

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“Lists enumerate, measure, and rank – they tell us what is best, most valuable, or even simply what has happened” Young (2013) 

Lists have become a way of recording what has been, what is to come and how we can improve. 

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Cataloguing and organising has become a way of routine and enforcing order. It has become a way of art, especially in relation to network cultures and technological advancement and movement.

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Play on light and angles creates a whimsical almost nostalgic essence to this photograph. Vivian Maier has captured the individual’s soul in a photo, and begs us to question the afterlife of a photo and digital presence. It serves to remind society that we will live on through our network activity and digital snapshots.

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Are we ever truly lost or will we always hover in the background of our digital footprints? 

“these digital artifacts are part of a growing personal collection that contains enough information to retell the stories of our lives” Carroll and Romano (2011) 

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A self portrait. Vivian will remain in her truest form, self captured and self expressed. She will always remain in this photo, her essence belongs to the thousands of photos she captured during her life. These are the digital remains, whilst her body will lay in the ground her should will alway live on through the digital network

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“Space is the site of connections, actions and struggles; it is the medium of strategies” Lefebvre (1974) 

Banksy highlights and uses this to his advantage to showcase how space can become a canvas for opinion of struggle and modern day life (especially when it comes to social media expectations).

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McLuhan comments on how society uses Media to extend ourselves. Represented here in the famous Oscar Selfie, it allows another dimension of ourselves to be added, for a deeper level of ourselves to be captured in a unique way and be shared through social media and technology. 

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Taking pictures of America’s Great political leaders Obama and Biden using new angles and capturing their good sides. begs the question, is this the real Obama? Capturing the joy through a selfie rather than official photo or paparazzi means we are seeing a new side to him. 

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A similar concept to that of Botechelli’s ‘Venus’ painting, the Queen of the 21st Century Beyoncè has used that as inspiration and adapted her own personality onto that of a famous painting. With the same stance, floral features and hair placement its a striking resemblance to Venus.