Showroom girls
A lot of computers have integrated webcams so you can easily make pictures or movies with it. Many people are aware of this and photograph themselves in stores with webcams from showroom computers.
“It has become so common to photograph oneself and to share the images with friends that we have to question this omniprecense of self-image when constructing an identity.”
– Nathalie Herschdorfer in the text on Showroom Girls for the exhibition The Youth Code, Daegu Photo Biennale, Daegu, South Korea, 2012.
✽
Winner
Foam
3h Dreamprize
for best exhibition, 2011
✽
Longlist
Dutch Doc Award
2011
Winner
Foam
3h Dreamprize
✽
Longlist
Dutch Doc Award
On one showroom computer in a store, Willem Popelier found 91 pictures and 2 movies made by two girls. After some research Popelier found out that they made a total of at least 153 pictures and 2 small movies in about an hour on the showroom computer. They also deleted a lot of pictures. When you are aware of this, the pictures that you can see become more important. What could be seen in the deleted pictures, and why did these girls keep the ones now visible?
After more research on internet, Popelier found the same pictures on their social network sites, and more. These are pictures made by true Digital Narcissists.
The installation Showroom Girls includes inkjet prints with all pictures of the girls (including deleted ones replaced by pink frames), a stack of chain paper and an old dot matrix printer. Every message on Twitter of one of the girls is printed out since 1 may 2010 - obscured so you can only see the date, time and length of the tweet. The printer is connected to her account and prints tweets live, in real time.
Framed inkjet prints, dot matrix printer, chain paper (over 1 km long), internet connection, 2011
Essay by Stine Jensen
Essay by Meredith Haaf
Exhibition view at Overdaad, Kunstlinie Almere, 2018.
Exhibition view at Fotomuseum Winterthur, 2012.
Including an installation with obscured tweets of one of the girls since 1 may 2010 - printed out in real time.
Video: printer at work - printing newly posted tweets of one of the girls in real time at Fotomuseum Winterthur.
Exhibition view at Fotomuseum Winterthur, 2012.
Stack of paper with all the obscured tweets of one of the girls.
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