GEIST THE SHARDED SELF #.01 AUTUMN WINTER 2015-16
A REPORT ON DOUBT A REPORT ON MOTIVE A REPORT ON DISORDER A REPORT ON SENSIBILITY A REPORT ON THE FUTURE A REPORT ON REALITY......
ISSUE
#.01
I’m gonna live on after I die. In a search engine for all eternity, there I will be.
GEIST
2015-16
Left and Right: Quotes by Darren Sylvester. A multi disciplinary Artist who specialises in pop and cultural narratives, influenced by contemporary discussions.
me, me me, me, me, me, me, me, That is all I ever think about.
We are living in a man made virtual reality. Our offline identities are isolated and overlooked. Replaced with deliberately disconnected and elasticated personas. Our predicted ‘teething period’ is very much over, in adjustment revelation and serendipity have been lost and our multiple personalities are elusive in transit. However, we stand helplessly juxtaposed, trapped in a cycle of self-created consumerism in which we are accustomed to believe that our unfortunate and unimpressive lives are socially editable, becoming ‘Instafamous’ is a life goal and downloadable PDF’s and our ability to synchronize emojis make us powerful. YOLO.
THE SHARDED SELF
AUTUMN WINTER 2015-16
A DISCONNECTED REGIME
Opposite: Egg Player (2013) Above: Chameleon Tumblr (2015)
Cross-generational time frames have empowered a current age of super connectivity. Rapid innovation has halted permanence and the digital age that we inhabit now presents itself in a inconsistent way. As consumers we have become accustomed to compulsive memes, we are becoming bedfellows with unsuspecting robots; we quote advice from gadgets and will soon request that mega systems are available to chat, answering our most pressing life questions.
Everythin
g Must H
appen No
MANI
FESTA A PLE TION FOR S A ENSE / FROM THE ANTISHAR DED SELV ES The re asons result why our pe in frac r tured sistent dig i perso nality phrenia wil l demis e.
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Technology is expanding way beyond our comprehension and we are just starting to see the effects of this. As online and offline worlds converge into a digital phenomena, virtual behaviours manifest in an offline, post crash world. We are living in a confused timeframe, as a result serendipity and revelation have been filtered from our lives and the constant quest for digital omniscience is self-defeatist. Humans have become trapped; a prisoner of their own prejudice, their growing interest in curation culture has manufactured a burden of endless editing. Revolting against living real life, taking the up-most satisfaction in missing out. Consumers are trained to be temporal flytraps discarding stale information, hinged on the most miniscule change. They have become an awkward institution of fractured neurotics. An institution that is oblivious to the existent world in which they live, an institution encompassing real life, which can vanish from sight by bargaining actual control for social capital. Time is short the opposite of what this revolution promised, mental capacity is limited; creating future generations who can only live within ‘storified lives’. Sacrificing significance to look for situations that allow for malleable, elastic identities. Sharders no longer have to consider true significance; real emotion is arduous to communicate from behind a screen. As humans they are the self-taught stars in a generational game of personality fraud. Brands will either suffer or thrive in such times. Digital behaviours have produced new engrained rituals that have sped up the retail world and become the etiquette for living. Brands will be redesigned to market to multiple personas or be appointed as educators, teaching consumers to regain a sense of value. The evacuation of our offline world will rotate, gradually entering us into a state of extreme neuroplasticity. We will see an drastic loss of self and a loss in humanity. Gradually we will be in constant competition with our peers, becoming reliant on our programmed personalities. The components of our true identities and abilities will be lost altogether, ultimately alleviation will be unreachable. Living without technology for a day is not unthinkable.
THE SHARDED SELF
AUTUMN WINTER 2015-16
GENERATION WIFI
“COMMUNICATION IS CHANGING AS ARE OUR BEHAVIOURS, SOME EVEN ARGUE OUR BEHAVIOURS ARE CHANGING FASTER THAN THE SYSTEMS AROUND US. WE’RE IN TRANSITION” The Future of Brands in a Post Human World - 2015
ISSUE
#.01
GEIST
2015-16
GENERATION WIFI
“IT SAYS A LOT ABOUT LIFE WHEN TRUE HAPPINESS BEGINS WITH FREE WIFI” - Callum Hounsell (2015) Our constant connection to technology has created temporary and subjective realities accompanied by a blossoming relationship with our phones. We have and will soon become permanent residents of our own online filter bubbles, outsourcing what it means to be human. As consumers we are the epitome of the ‘Mr. Ben Effect’ opting into a belief system, swapping behaviours and uniforms to maximise our value or to reach our next ‘favourited’ social status. Within this comfy realm of continuous partial living our time is in a state of constant temporal disjunction and our personalities are increasingly matching. When all of your communication is asynchronous the only route is a mid-life communication crisis.
Opposite: Andy Warhol’s 85 Polaroid Portraits (1970 - 1987). Edited to demonstrate the effect of picture power. ‘Emojis’ have become a cultural phenomenon and influence how consumers portray emotion beyond social media channels.
A DIGITAL DETOX
A DIGITAL DETOX
A DIGITAL DETOX
A DIGITAL DETOX
A DIGITAL DETOX
A DIGITAL DETOX
A DIGITAL DETOX
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