Liz Filardi is New York based artist who received a BA in English from the University of Albany at SUNY and an MFA in Design and Technology from The New School in 2009. She was recently commissioned by Turbulence for her I'm Not Stalking; I'm Socializing series. Filardi explores anxieties surrounding social networking through this body of work. Using intervention techniques through performance, Liz's work investigates personal boundaries. Communication media are the main vehicle for which she creates her work; resulting in websites, solicited telephone calls, signage and digital images.
Beginning with one of her early works, we can trace back the personal narrative that is at the heart of Liz Filardi's work. Breakfast Daily uses a video diary approach to convey vulnerability and personal boundaries. Each day, Liz records herself as she eats breakfast alone. An emotional disposition or mood is cataloged through the redundant images of this simple everyday act. Filardi reported, "By the end of the experiment, I had created a Vimeo community group to support the conclusion that eating breakfast at a table is, in fact, a gesture of commitment and patience, even without the involvement of a video camera. The group seems to live on."
I am reminded of Miranda July, when I think about Liz's work. July utilizes the everyday human experience, often drawing from the vulnerability of the personal and its emotions. Seen in both artists work is the use of text as a powerful communication tool.
Another early work uses remixing to create digital imagery. Filardi 's work Tribute to R. Stevie Moore was inspired after discovering the piece Girl Go. She explains, "Never underestimate a champion of the vintage internet aesthetic." She constructed her tribute series from a collection of images that were taken from the the R. Stevie Moore public image domain. The public domain includes websites, over 400 masterful mix tapes and CDs, and several official releases including the early indie classic, Phonography. Liz chronicles R Stevie Moore's artistic career as standing the test of time, while becoming well respected. She explains, that he "played alongside Elvis Presley, yet continues to perform humbling shows in small New York City clubs to audiences consisting of a few fanatics amongst venue grazers."
Fueled by her interest in society's obsession with virtual communities specifically, social networking, Filardi created a narrative project called Wonderful Life. This work engages the narrative potential of social networking communities by attempting to push narrative in a new direction. The focus of the project questions the inclusion of individual's in social networking communities and challenges the notion of how this social involvement can enrich our lives.
She states, "We form narratives by reconnecting, searching for old friends, etc... In past, issues of privacy existed, people were less open to sharing personal information.....Surfing networks has become social default. We prefer to surf the net over watching T.V." Another component of the work is an investigation of the use of marketing tools within these social networks, as people have shifted from watching television and bearing the commercials to using the Internet as source of this spectator entertainment.
Wonderful Life is a satirical web narrative, which has been adapted to social network platforms. Liz took from several websites to create the project in order to create the narrative. She says, "The only way that you can really consume the story is by becoming friends with the character. Even if you don't know these characters, who you just became friends with on Facebook, by investigating you get caught up in the story the same way that you get caught up in the story of what your friends are up to." The project unfolds over a fixed, five-week time period. This parallels the real time frame for the characters, who participate in daily blogging while being paid to consume a daily health regiment called Wonderful Life. The goal of the product is to discover the meaning of life. The blogging not only documents the experience of taking the product, but also provides a narrative hook for the viewers.
While Liz often relies on the public as both the audience and participants in her work, she also puts herself out there, as in the case of Facetbook. This project is achieved through Firefox web plug-in that allows her to archive her Facebook profile. This project speaks to created identity or the multiplicity of identity that is encouraged through social networking. It emphasizes the ability to project a story about oneself through social networks by constructing a character and story for people to follow. Viewers take an invested interest in these posts, or stories, even if secretly. A review of Liz's work points out the timeliness of her work as it deals with issues of privacy on Facebook. A privacy loophole has become apparent on Facebook, as members of the public can access the website without membership through links to events.
This work connects to the work of Sophie Calle. The viewers have the ability to play detective or investigate Filardi's constructed narratives presented through Facetbook. Sophie Calle's work plays on vulnerability through her personal sometimes secret interactions that she has with the subjects of her work. Similarly, Filardi's work reflects the role of the viewer and challenges the notion of personal boundaries and privacy. She holds a mirror to the public, commenting on the behavior that is delivered through these social networks. Calle's work also exposes the personal and permits the audience to have access to the documentation of these emotional experiences.
The work Status Grabber is a service that invites people to make a brief statement regarding their status over the phone. Filardi selects random people in the phone book or by request through the project webpage. People are solicited by phone to update other people (a friend or loved one who has requested the service) on their status. The solicitor describes the service as, "100% free verbal social networking service that allows us to communicate in brief updates intended for a general social audience." This work relies and challenges the concept of status grabbing. It demonstrates that people will accept certain conditions online but not offline via another medium such as the telephone. The anonymous audience draws on notion of privacy, as the phone call becomes an invasion of space.
The request of participation is superficial and limiting in what the participants can or will share. A brief statement only goes so far in its depiction of one's life. This parallels to social networks in the way that it speaks to the limitations of really giving true information in online social arenas. People want to believe that they are engaging in genuine connections with friends and family members online, but there is only so far these interactions can go in the viral space of the internet world. I found the work ironic in the way that people were unlikely to reveal personal information through the telephone, even though there is such a hype around status updates online. I really enjoyed the humor that comes across in the prankster style that the work is delivered and received.
Status Grabber recalls the intervention tactics of the Yes Men. In fact, Liz was involved in the Yes Men NY Times as a Transport Logistician. In addition, her use of websites and internet products also echo their culture jamming practices.
black&white is an exploration of the term stalking, Filardi takes a historical case of criminal stalking and interplays the narrative with the idea of online stalking. Using a website interface that mimics Facebook, she creates two profiles for the characters involved in the Farley/Black case if Silicon Valley in the late 1980's which provoked California Anti-Stalking Law. The profiles provide insight into the story, while engaging viewers to participate in the act of stalking through their following of the story. It questions the notion of stalking all together. Again, Liz uses media and narrative to engage the viewer.
Facetbook, Status Grabber and black&white are all works created for the Turbulence commission that Liz received in 2009.
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