Self-portrait, #SelfieBuddy
Video Screenshot Gallery
Twitter Screenshot Gallery
#SelfieBuddy is a wooden camera that takes animated photos and automatically uploads them to twitter. Only after the photos are uploaded can they be viewed. This removes any option for the user to self-edit or retake the photo without the world seeing every attempt. Photos become surprises, and elicit the nostalgia of waiting for a polaroid as the viewer waits for it to appear on social media.
As viewers interact with #SelfieBuddy their approach to taking photos shift from treating it like a camera to preforming for it as if it were a friend, they make faces, act silly, and dance. Because #SelfieBuddy has the familiar shape of a pixelated avatar users are put at ease, and for the curators that have spent the most time with it, they begin to dote over it, calling it their “little wooden boy” while on exhibit.
Though viewers find the work fun and engaging, I hope that upon reflection of their experience they may critique the nature of our our collective over curated and self edited personas that we create on social media.
Biography
Andrew Y. Ames is a new media artist, designer and educator who creates interactive works that foster play, collaboration and wonder. His works bend the rules of gameplay and interaction in unexpected ways to invite critical reflection on social media, gaming, and what it means to win, lose and collaborate. Recent works have been exhibited in “Art and Technology 4.0,” at the Tejas Gallery. Ames holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Digital + Media, and a BFA from the University of Denver in Electronic Media Art & Design. Currently Ames is an Associate Professor of Media Arts at Robert Morris University.
©2020 Andrew Y. Ames, used by permission
Technoculture Volume 10-11 (2020-2021)
