Stella’s interesting post about the lecture on Chinese restaurants and culture really got me thinking about art and the way it can be used to reflect and share aspects of culture that would otherwise be hidden from us. Returning to Everett for a moment, I would like to discuss imagined communities once again. To a certain extent, national boarders disappear in cyberspace, replaced by structures of virtual communities and homelands. I think one very interesting example of an online imagined community is the Post Secret project. Post Secret is “an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard”. The site is updated once a week with new post cards that contain secrets from people all over. People can also comment on the post cards and often people mention how much they connect with the various secrets, many times seeing their own secrets reflected back at themselves from alternative perspectives. Interestingly, this website is hosted on Blogger, as a blog not a fancy or expensive Internet platform.
Perhaps people connect with the site for the voyeuristic entertainment it provides, glimpses into the secret lives of anonymous people. However, I think there is something more at work here. As an art project, it is a very interesting reflection of the hybridity of culture, imagined communities and the erasure of race, gender, etc. in online spaces. People often write comments or send in post cards that reflect how much post secret has helped them realize that they are not alone in their secrets. In this way, it serves as an imaginary community.
People are anonymous, they do not sign their cards, if pictures are used on the cards faces are often black out. When comments are made, names are also omitted. In this way, everyone is equal, with difference removed via the screen. However, it doesn’t just allow for difference to be removed, it also allows difference to be exemplified. People can write secrets that express elements of themselves (whether about gender, race, economic, marital status, etc.) that demonstrate just how different we all are. Although most of the secrets are written in English, some are written in different languages, meaning many people who visit the site cannot understand what they say. This is another way that difference is exemplified. Yet somehow in this anonymous community people can connect over the fact that they share similarities and differences. Whether Post Secret conceals or expresses difference, the digital media of the Internet has definitely changed the scale of social networking, allowing people from all over the country, and all over the world to come together to share a few secrets.
I really enjoyed this post as well as the content on Post Secret. I feel that this blog in particular is very self-reflexive in that it incorporates the personal into the very fabric of the online. This in itself is very different from the ideology of modernity, which tends to shy away from the personal. Thanks for linking this blog, it was a great read and contributes both to the idea of the Internet allowing for secrecy as well as difference within virtual space.
ReplyDeleteI just heard about this website a few months ago and found it extremely interesting. I think you provided an excellent overview of the many ways this site conceals differences but also makes some visible. What I find so interesting about this virtual space is that strangers come together to share things that are extremely personal to them in hopes of "connecting" with someone who may have shared a similar experience or feelings. There is a basic human need to have social contact with others and although virtual communities are often described as imagined communities, it has to be noted that sometimes sharing our most deepest feelings and kept secrets via the "faceless medium" can allow us to feel that "release"/connection we need - even though we do not personally know those with whom we are sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example of the way difference can be exemplified or removed on the internet. Perhaps I'll check it out. I think that the fact that this is an art project suggests that their is an underlying statement or spectacle that is trying to be portrayed. It seems that this website might be making a spectacle of peoples secrets. This in a way unifies people through difference, but still turns their secrets into entertainment, which is alienating in itself
ReplyDeleteI have been a huge fan of the books and the website for several years now, and I think its interesting that the model has actually been extended to include Laurier exclusively (most successfully in 2009-2010).
ReplyDeleteI think, though, that the art is all the exact same (some exciting background, block-letter or cursive text strategically angled to be aesthetically pleasing) which could pose a problem. Users post their secrets on the site hoping they'll be published (as not all are) and therefore could post images they simply know will be chosen. So how do we know, then, who is accurately depicting themselves? I suppose it doesn't matter but it is interesting to consider.
In terms of the laurier post secret; secrets were posted as anonymous Facebook photographs in a Laurier Post Secret Facebook page. The secrets were submitted on index cards and then scanned and uploaded. I know they're still trying to re-spark its popularity to keep your eyes open for it...you never know when they're talking about you!