Privacy project – 2021
2021 – “Behind the screens”:
In june 2021 I participated in the privacy project currated by ‘Streetart museum amsterdam’. The project was organized to raise awareness about ethical questions around privacy. There was an open call where 80 artists applied proposal designs for 3 walls in Amsterdam. All artists had all freedom to interpret the theme in their own way. (Info about the project)
The design
“I chose to depict different characters/people performing a certain action with their phone. I have taken inspiration from my surroundings.
To me it is very visible how technology and having a phone have changed our simple daily actions. If you walk down the street and you look at the people around you, you will always see someone holding a phone.
Almost all of us have one and it has become a kind of extra body part. We have the phone with us almost constantly and can be reached anywhere and at any time. This fact alone plays a major role in our privacy, and then there is the constant data that is collected from us. Technology is developing so fast that there are increasing gaps between generations and it can sometimes be difficult even for the youth to keep up.
The purpose of my design is to start a conversation/discussion, to make people stop, look and question what they see.”
“You see characters with a diversity of origins who are brought together in 1 work of art. Yet they are all busy with their own thing…
This is how I see society too. We are connected in a way and together, but (partly also due to the development of technology) we are very individualistic.
Having a telephone has an impact on the way we communicate, relate and interact with each other. Both familial level, as love relationships and friendships… but also the relationship to ourselves.
Actions such as calling, watching videos, listening to music, texting, taking photos, social media… have become such an obvious part of our daily routine that we can hardly imagine life without them.
It was my intention to portray a certain neutrality with my design, to which the viewer can actually give a story or an opinion. When I talk to people about this topic, opinions are always divided. One sees the development of technology as something bad, the other sees it as something good… The truth always lies in the middle, I think, but that doesn’t make it any less important to take a critical look at this.
I hope that people can recognize themselves in this artwork and that this can be a tool to reflect on this theme.”
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