Mirei Shirai is live now: “Are you sure you want to watch this?”

Ever so often, the banner notification on my phone lets me know that one of my Facebook friend is “Going Live”. I have never used this feature for myself however, for variety of reasons. What do I have in my life so interesting to show my 1000+ friends on internet on live video? I barely even post photos nor videos of me traveling or spending time with friends and family! On many social media accounts, I have seen live videos of people just talking to the camera, or showing what they are doing – targeted at everybody and nobody. I could not imagine doing the same, a one way communication to my phone camera and the internet, not sure of what kind of response I would get, IF I get a response.

So the first thought that popped up in my head when I was told to go live for 15 minutes on Facebook for the class micro project, was slight fear for possible embarrassment. Showing yourself on internet live is not the same as posting an Instagram photo that has been carefully thought through and edited at least 3 times with a witting caption. Not only that, my live feed was going to be lined up with 15 other student’s live feed, making it possible to compare mine with everyone else’s.

In the end, as a good student should, I began my 15 minutes live video. I walked around the ADM, filming other students doing what I was doing, trying to find objects that were “interesting”, and tried to give some explanation to the viewers by narrating what I was doing. I felt as if I was seeing everything through my phone screen, and I was doing things I would have never done in my real life. It was in a way, a “performance” to make this as enjoyable as possible to my viewers. I compared myself to a Japanese mask, pretended to ride on top of the pink llama, and almost touched the cleaning gloves.

When I came back to the classroom, I could see my video as part of a bigger video, among 11 others. (Unfortunately my phone’s rotating feature was locked, and it recorded in portrait mode.) I felt some dissonant, as what was shown on classroom was completely different from what I have just experienced. Yes, it was the exact same screen I saw on my phone – however, now among 11 other similar videos, my narration could not be heard, and other people’s videos would distract my eyes from watching my own. It was almost like watching a crowd of people in public – one person calling a friend, one person taking a selfie, one person smoking a cigarette – individuals blending out in amass of people.

12 videos in 1

I no longer felt the fear or embarrassment I felt in the beginning, as I realized that it comes from my ego that people must be paying attention to what I show online. Social Networking Site (or the Internet) is so large and immense, that the activities you do there, it blends in and is forgotten after new information surpasses. The objects I thought was interesting and unique while recording, appeared numerous times in other people’s videos as well. The pink llama, the trash can, going up and down the stairs… it made me realize that our eyes all tend to be attracted to similar things and you cannot be disillusioned to thinking your internet content is unique to yourself. It was rather the authenticity of the recorder that made the video more interesting, not how “unique” your video was. The combined video actually served as an interesting piece of artwork that showed each classmate’s interest in the world and their ways of showing it. You could watch each person’s genuine expressions and narrations without alterations, which has become rare in the age of Facebook and Instagram.

Perhaps with this ever-evolving internet culture, creating a more authentic performance and sense of self is becoming the new art form. I didn’t know what to exactly expect from this course, Internet Art and Culture, but now I am excited to learn further about creating art through the Internet.

Real Time Aggregation (The link to the combined video)

Self Real Time Aggregation (Video below)