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'CONTENT'
See
Wish You Were Here
I Can't Live Without You
FOREWORD How do you know you're alive? You touch, you hear, you smell, you taste and you see — but you also understand and interpret abstract ideas and emotions. Our world is so complex and ever-changing that it requires a continuous adjustment of our own perceptions and understanding to make sense of it all. But what happens when we become overwhelmed by intentionally deceptive information? Our everyday expectations of what we see and read are often far-removed from the true reality of what we get. Your date may bear little resemblance to their carefully chosen profile images on social media. The 'once in a lifetime experience' you paid a fortune for may turn out to be one of the more forgettable moments of your life. Whilst we are familiar with phrases like: 'appearances can be deceiving' and 'don't judge a book by its cover', putting them into practice is actually very difficult. A large part of the reason why we fail to distinguish fantasy from reality is because it takes a significant amount of effort to objectively think about whether what we are being presented with is what we should have expected. The Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman brilliantly describes it as either thinking 'fast or slow'. We're constantly processing the world around us, so to save time we rely on a fast judgement based upon our memories of past experiences. In short, we're prone to jump to conclusions because it's easier than struggling to figure out the truth slowly. The more
familiar you are with something, the more likely you are to recognise and believe in it. The first section of this project is See. See explores the ways in which visual language, specifically emojis, are changing how we communicate across all cultures. As the world's fastest growing language, have emojis finally created an egalitarian alphabet which could offer people from all cultural backgrounds the opportunity to communicate clearly? Or is this relatively new phenomenon actually simplifying a complex world and leaving the true messages lost in translation? Wish You Were Here focuses on our disconnection between the real world we live in and the utopian online world we occupy as an escape. The juxtaposed imagery examines the idealised online lifestyle we choose to present to the outside world, in order to impress those in the very world we're avoiding. Lastly is I Can't Live Without You. After establishing that it can be misleading to take things at face-value, we'll delve into this one properly later ‌
TRUMP BREXIT
E
verything is for sale, if you know where to look for it. In the United Kingdom the government estimates there are at least 10,000 modern slaves currently being exploited. The worldwide estimate of those in modern slavery is somewhere between 25-45 million people. Whilst slavery is undoubtedly an extreme example, exploitation exists to varying degrees as a means to make a profit. We all aspire to be admired, fulfilled and safe. Being seen to be beautiful, intelligent, strong, healthy and successful is perhaps socially more important than actually being any of those things. Social media allows us to present an idealised version of ourselves, but how do we actually craft these digital identities? When we see something that we like, it's normally because it appeals to our aspirational desires and our association with it will therefore make us appear 'better'. By adopting a brand or lifestyle and presenting it to the world as a unique extension of ourselves, we're telling everyone: 'I understand what is popular enough to share online and I want my audience to associate me with this great thing.' There isn't inherently anything wrong with this. Products and services exist to make us feel enriched and to simply make our lives easier. But making ourselves feel 'better' doesn't necessarily mean we're making ourselves happier. When every company, media outlet or politician tells you that what they're offering is the best or most honest, then someone must be lying. Fear is perhaps the most convincing way of making people swallow a lie. People don't want to feel as though they are stupid, ugly,
uninformed, weak or worthless – the social stigma is too much to bear. Therefore, preying on people's insecurities and fears is the biggest asset any supplier has. If you can be made to feel inferior or scared enough, you'll pay money and give your support to anything which promises to make you feel 'better'. We live in a paradox where we want to be made to feel like unique, freethinking individuals; simultaneously wanting to feel as though we are a part of an identical, collective majority. Corporations, the media and politicians use everything from localised vernacular to cultural meme references to appear as though they're your relatable friends who have your best interests at heart. They make you feel as though they're giving you more than you're giving them, because they truly understand you. When in reality, winning hearts and minds is often just a means of winning the money in your back pocket. We feel so indebted to these essential structures of influence because the world as we know it wouldn't exist without them. Yet, that doesn't mean we should give them more than they give us in return. The Latin phrase 'Sine Qua Non' means something that is 'fundamentally essential', an indispensable truth. Some truths are more indispensible than others. It is essential to be happy in both the things that make us unique and the same – whilst remembering not to sell ourselves as slaves to fear.
'It is important to bear in mind that political campaigns are designed by the same people who sell toothpaste and cars.' - Noam Chomsky
NUKE
JUST DON'T.
BE YOUR IDEAL SELF* WITH THE NEW ADIOS DRAMATIC WEIGHT LOSS** SUPPLEMENT
*May lead to a loss of self-consciousness and a lack of distinguishable identity. **May lead to an overwhelming weight of expectation to maintain an unrealistic level of beauty.
SMILE, YOU'RE
E ON CAMERA.
Go slow, but never stop.
The new Handyman Ménage à Trois combo. The perfect companion for every 'driver.
SCREW YOU!!!
LEFT IS RIGHT. RIGHT IS WRONG. WRONG IS CORRECT. CORRECT IS FALSE. FALSE IS TRUTH. TRUTH IS LYING. LYING IS REALITY. REALITY IS FAKERY. FAKERY IS HONESTY. HONESTY IS DECEIT. DECEIT IS CARING. CARING IS NEGLECT. NEGLECT IS SHARING. SHARING IS APATHY. APATHY IS CONCERN. CONCERN IS IGNORANCE. IGNORANCE IS POWER. POWER IS FACT. FACT IS FICTION. FICTION IS NARRATIVE. NARRATIVE IS INFLUENCE. INFLUENCE IS WEAKNESS. WEAKNESS IS STRENGTH. STRENGTH IS UNITY. UNITY IS ISOLATION. ISOLATION IS LIFE. LIFE IS DEATH.
The Demagogue's Prayer, 2017
This project is dedicated to John Berger and my Uncle Vince.
All content created and owned by Aaron Carline Š 2017