Lauren McCarthy
Social Media Art
The French artist Sophie Calle became famous for playing detective. Once she hired a private investigator to follow her. The black and white pictures of the investigation became her artwork. Calle‘s work ranges between voyeurism and exhibitionism. The American artist Lauren McCarthy goes one step further. She transfered these mechanism from analog to our digital time. She coded the App "Follower". The service provides a real life follower for a day.
On the website sheet you need to explain: "Why do you want to be followed? Why should someone follow you?" Instagram or Snapchat accounts live from follower. People even buy "follower" and "likes" to show that they are important and deserve attention. McCarthy reverses this process from virtual to real life. We have the feeling that it is scary or weird if someone stalks us anonymously in real life, but if we give them online access to our life – it‘s ok!?
Video: Lauren McCarthy – Follower | Vimeo