Abstract
This is a research on the Scienartist Annie Abrahams and one example of her scienartistic experiment called Angry Women. Scienartist (probably created by me) here refers to people who work with science and art. The experiment was set in the ‘third space’ and conducted with a group of female participates. I concluded my research with open questions.
Research
We, human rely on tools and technology since the beginning of the humanity. We created the technology, technology also created our new identity. Sometimes, we tend to play the roles in our social media groups. For instance, when all your friends posting fancy food photos. Would you be tempted to go to an ‘instaworthy’ restaurant instead of street food that you are actually craving for?
Annie Abrahams, a Dutch performance artist. I will call her a scienartist in my research. Her artwork is focusing on video installations and internet-based performances. One of her work, Angry Women, gathered a group of women to express their true frustrations via webcam. Like a scientist, Annie Abrahams set up the ‘online lab’, listed down the ‘variables’, sat back and observe the changes of the of the ‘variables’.
“When studying biology I had to observe a colony of monkeys in a zoo. I found this very interesting because I learned something about human communities by watching the apes. In a certain way I watch the internet with the same appetite and interest. I consider it to be a universe where I can observe some aspects of human attitudes and behaviour without interfering.” – Annie Abrahams
The participants were screaming and probably complaining as I do not understand French. However, we can observe from their facial expressions that they are not showing the most representable sides of them. There is no fancy outfit, no camera filter, and no post-production because it is on the live broadcast.
Conclusion?
The participants were put in the #angrywoman community, where they unconsciously reveal their inner messy and vulnerable side. Those angry women are the performers of this live performance. Why is this performance seems to more realistic that our ‘daily social media life’. Who is performing? Those angry women or us?
Bibliography
Good questions! You might considering trying to answer them, particularly the one about how this form of expression is not typical of our social media interactions. You remember we discussed how we filter ourselves on social media. Do you think Angry Women is unfiltered and so perhaps there is a greater range of expressivity? You asked great questions, which is very important, but I would like to know what you think about these questions.