omg!!! a man in the nude! in public space?
how inappropriate - at least for virtual life
... an rather peculiar thing happened some days ago, and I'd like to quickly mention it here (for is it not the actual point of writing a blog that you're able to mention such peculiar things that you would like to share with the wide, wide world? absolutely!). My boyfriend, who is a very dedicated Instagram photographer, his main focus being on public art and street art and city life, took some pictures of Ilse Haider's public art installation "Mister Big" inside Vienna's Museumsquartier museum complex. It stages a young man in the nude in an interesting multi-layered arrangement (the installation comes as a foreboding of the show that will soon open at Leopold Museum, dedicated to male nudes - entirely).
Now, what's harmless enough for Vienna's public space proved to be too much for the user-controlled virtual space that is Instagram. Sure enough, once he'd uploaded some images (where it was, however, possible to discern the surrounding public space), these visuals were instantly flagged and ended up being removed from his timeline. While I entirely understand about the necessity of controlling the nature of images uploaded to public platforms such as Instagram, I still think it's quite remarkable how "real" public space and "virtual" public space can follow completely opposite logics and conceptions of what is "suitable" and what isn't ...
... je voudrais brièvement vous parler de quelque chose qui s'est récemment passé sur Instagram (encore un site internet à ne pas perdre, vous allez me dire) : mon petit ami, qui se dédie avec une énergie extraordinaire à entretenir son remarquable compte sur Instagram, lequel contient des images fort intéressantes, prises de vue de plusieurs villes, d'art urbain, de graffitis, a photographié la nouvelle installation d'art urbain intitulée "Mister Big" et créée par l'artiste Ilse Haider pour la cour principale du Museumsquartier à Vienne.
Or, cette installation consiste de la gigantesque ("Big") image d'un jeune homme mis à nu, fragmentée en plusieurs couches. Le tout est conçu comme prolongement dans l'espace de la ville d'une exposition qui montrera ses portes le 18 octobre dans le musée Leopold, entièrement dédiée aux représentations artistiques de l'homme nu (eh ben ouais...). Voilà donc qu'au moment même où la photo de Mister Big a fait irruption sur Instagram, l'image a été signalée par les utilisateurs du site et a ensuite été annulée. Je ne vous raconte pas ceci en me méprenant sur l'importance d'un certain contrôle des images qui sont déposées sur un site internet ouvert à tous. Tout de même, la différence qu'il y a bien évidemment entre l'espace public d'une ville réelle et l'espace public du monde virtuel me frappe comme étant, pour le moins, remarquable ...
2 commentaires:
Très intéressant. I think part of the reason for this difference in treatment is the cultural milieu from which these two spaces sprang. The Viennese public space, influenced by continental European mores and social norms, versus the virtual space of Instagram, a creation of contemporary mainstream American values. As I'm sure you'll agree, these two divergent origins encompass very different views on the "suitability" of male nudity.
Another thought: I suppose Instagram's virtual space could be thought of more accurately as private property, where one's speech can by easily censored by the will of the corporation.
Thought provoking post! Merci.
Dear Rob, thank you for your very interesting and insightful comment that I would absolutely like to agree with.
I am of course aware of the differences in terms of surrounding culture (European "high culture", public space "vs" American mass market format, privately owned) and primarily wanted to point these out to the readers of ParisVienne.com and, ideally, make them ponder over this varying perceptions of what is suitable and what is not.
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