«I-NFLUENCER-POSTERS» (2021)
«I-nfluencer-Posters» is the title of a new series of 17 works. The aim of this series of work is to claim myself as an ‘Influencer’, therefore my self-declared title “I-nfluencer”. I am not implicated in ‘social-medias’ myself but I follow with interest their growing development and meaning, their collective importance and aesthetics. And I want to express my will of having ‘Influence’, as well – hopefully with some credible self-irony, humbleness and even silliness. Therefore all texts on the “I-nfluencer-Posters” express the experience, the reflection, the affirmation I made and I have through my work in the field of art. But I am equally aware that I am just another ‘wannabe Influencer’, who wants to have many ‘followers’, and get lots of ‘likes’. Therefore, as one of the ‘wannabe influencers’, I want to express my thoughts, my beliefs and my position – with seriousness and commitment, and I want to share them in the only ‘niche’ I am competent or at least feel competent for: The ‘niche’ of Art. In any case, as an artist, I need to have a position and furthermore I need to confront the problem, the mission which is to decide: How to take position? How to give form to this position? And how can this form create a truth – beyond aesthetical, political, cultural and economical habits – an universal truth? Therefore, as somebody who claims to be an influencer and wants to have influence, I need to and I want to clarify several points in the ‘niche’ of Art, which I decided to identify with 17 ‘hashtags’. All of those ‘hashtags’ are problematics, notions, affirmations, topics I am interested in, I am thinking about, I am giving importance, and they are: #Public Space, #Precariousness, #Less is Less. More is More, #Waste, #Engagement, #Beauty, #Energy=Yes! Quality=No!, #Universality, #Resistance, #Form, #Equality, #Monument, #Weapon, #Collage, #Love, #Fan, #Failure and Success. The “I-nfluencer-Poster” series are ‘Posters’ in the size of a vertical poster, roughly made, approximatively designed, quickly executed. They are home-made blow-ups of social-media-screens. This series follows the “Chat-Posters” – which I made and exhibited in 2020 – with texts of the philosopher Simone Weil, where excerpts of her thinking lead to an imaginary dialogue on enlarged smartphones. With the “I-nfluencer-Posters” I want to continue with the aesthetics of social media but this time I want to use my own words as base.
Thomas Hirschhorn, Aubervilliers, March, 2021