post-internet, poor image, circulationism, metadata, social networks
The poor image is the image that migrates through different media, which affects and shapes political configurations, people and social systems. This notion coined by Hito Steyerl is the starting point for The Surface and The Core, as an ode to the online digital image, focused on the importance of its circulation and the way it triggers social and political discussions.
These images travel from one point of the globe to the other, along with their inherent subtexts and associated keywords. Their peak of online activity is concurrent with the mediatic event, but these images continue to be indefinitely shared, commented and reappropriated in numerous ways on the internet. However, these images cannot be reduced to its visible surface. At the heart of their mediatization and dissemination are the metadata that drive them.
Based on this assumption, The Surface and The Core seeks to highlight the impact of online mediated images through sharing, commenting, liking, revealing the metrics that govern their circulation and proposing to the viewer an exploration of what is actually behind the online image.
Ariana Parrilha and Mariana Ribeiro | Mestrado em Design de Comunicação | Faculdade de Belas-Artes | Lisboa