Annie Abrahams is a Dutch performance artist/curator who uses different means of communication via the online platform to examine and test out the potential and boundaries of social communication between humans regardless of distance or time zone differences. One of the perks of mass media is that it warrants interconnectivity, uniting people from all over the globe to come together and perform a task within just matter of seconds.
Project Angry Women (2012) is a live performance broadcast constructed by Abrahams. This piece of work rationalizes over the issue on time and space, an expression focused on women. This emotional, melodramatic experiment is conducted on females across the continent, streamed over the internet webcam with Abrahams facilitating the execution. I would describe it as a form of psychological relieve for the participants. Cultural barriers are knocked down, as women expressed themselves through sounds (e.g. screams, smiles, shrieks) while being live at the same time. Further on in Abrahams experiment, project Angry Man is produced, then subsequently a mixed gender version comes through. Her works aim to reinforce and unfold human behaviours, the side most people find most vulnerable to reveal as we subconsciously try to portray our best sides.
Though one of the cons of multimedia is that it homogenizes culture. I feel that with the availability of internet access, the entire world is acquainting with the same cultural influence, and this way, people will be going after trends. Essentially, we will all be under the same fixated dogma, eventually losing our own essence and uniqueness in time. Our sense of identity will be very much diluted and watered down to what is popular and not factors like what makes us different.
Another aspect which we had discussed over class time – how being on the second/third space takes our attention away during gatherings with friends/family. I do agree to a huge extent how our addiction can potentially overtake interpersonal connection. As much as the fact that social media can take us places, it disconnects us with the present, especially people who are around us physically.
You raise some very interesting points about our online interactions, how through social media we have the potential to break down cultural barriers, perhaps even stereotypes and racial inequalities. But do we do this, or do we tend to confine ourselves to our own friends and groups with commonalities. Angry Women, it is true, is an attempt to break the stereotype, in this case of women, allowing them to freely vent their anger and frustration, something women are taught not to do in the public space. So you raise some good issues, however, I would like to see more detail about the work, as well as references to the readings. But I recognize your effort to grapple with the important issues.