26 September 2012

Cute cat photos

I've been learning a lot from this animal; no matter how ridiculous my online presence becomes, there is nothing but pure, non-dualistic truth in that cat. While I continue to address the inanity of most usage of social media through deploying banal subject matter, at the very same time the sublime beauty of the cat argues for the potential effectiveness of the self-same images.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

The series closed this morning.

Unknown said...

This series unfolded over the course of nearly a month and a half for an audience of slightly over 500 people. Of course, they could choose not to look at and respond to the images. They could even customize their settings to avoid receiving anything except "important" updates. At worst, they could have unfriended me, but I didn't lose anyone during the series.

Unknown said...

There has been a good deal of buy-in and transference of my perceived online persona to my "real" self: people asking me about my cat, others annoyed at the doting photos and the frequency of their issuance, still others concerned for my mental health.

Still others, I hope, recognize the series for what it is-- a détournement of one convention of social media upon itself. This is not making fun of these kinds of images, nor of their creators. It is a recognition of the power of the image (and its channel of distribution) and turning that power back upon itself.

The series isn't critical of those who choose to use social media for purposes of constructing a casual online self. It celebrates the idea of such a powerful cultural apparatus in the hands of the people. I simply hope to draw attention to the possibilities of experimentation with the ends to which that cultural apparatus can be put.

Unknown said...

The series has been archived to Pinterest, where you can view it in its entirety.

http://pinterest.com/filmteacher/cute-cate-photos-conquer-the-world/