By Cassandra Pizzey /asdf 31-03-2011

Many designers, collectives and platforms nowadays have a social network page such as Facebook, with friends to match. But how to make use of these friends? Why not use their info in an exhibition?

That's exactly what KOP - an artistic meeting place and exhibition space situated in Breda - has done. Over the last few months, a select group of art-directors and artist made a selection of KOP's Facebook friends, whose public profiles were made into art installations. The chosen few featured in the exhibition were kept secret until the opening on 18 March.

The artists and art directors were hand picked by KOP director Karina van Bezooijen, who found the medium Facebook very useful during the search for participants. She explains: "We sourced the artists and asked them to become friends with us on Facebook, they in turn chose the subjects of the exhibition from our friend list." One such art collective is Bosque from Argentina. While researching artist Geoff Mcfetridge on internet, Bezooijen came across a photo of tattoo of one of his illustrations on Flickr. "I discovered the tattoo belonged to an artist who is part of Bosque, after visiting their website I knew they would be a perfect fit for our exhibition, and now they are participants."

In addition to Bosque the participants are Ibraheem Youssef, La Bolleur, Los Bastardos, Rob Matthews, ROYALSTEEZ, Studio Smack, Miktor & Molf. Each of the artists was invited to pick one of KOP's Facebook friends from the list, some chose a person because of a beautiful name, others picked based on career, photos or interests. "Each of the artists were commissioned to create an original piece for Profilers, they created a great mix of different styles while showcasing their creative talent.

In addition to a fun, interactive exhibition, Profilers also aims to show people how easily personal information can be extracted from public profiles on social network websites. "Everyone who uses social media portrays themselves in a certain way," says Bezooijen. People present themselves as they would like to be perceived, but sometimes they forget who can access their personal information. "Through this presentation we want to show what can happen with your online information, how people see you and how your information can be treated not forgetting what influence visual culture has on our perceptions."

So were the expected reactions from the chosen Facebook friends? "You always hope a show will get good reviews, fortunately the people who are subject of the exhibition appreciate what the artists have done with their information and were very surprised and approving."

Visitors to Profilers have the chance to interact with the various exhibits thanks to, what else, 'Like thumbs'. "By turning the thumb up or down, people can show whether they like or dislike artworks, at the same time they can see what their predecessor thought and react."

Click on the images to enlarge

Images top to bottom: 1. Studio Smack 2. La Bolleur 3. Ibraheem Youssef
photos: Suzanne Jongmans

Add to favorites