Event 2: U Still Up?

The event I attended was titles “U still up?” Christina Yglesias (pictured below) was wondering how a texting conversation would flow with complete strangers. To put her thoughts into action she put an ad out on craigslist for a non-romantic texting buddy. She got a few responses, but only decided to document four different people’s conversation. She texted these people for about two months to see where the conversations would go. She would answer them honestly no matter what the questions were. Some got intimate, some stayed basic, and were only one sided. After these two months, she received consent from each of these people to present their conversations as an art project. She then went back on craigslist, hired actors to read the conversations, and filmed them. She then presented them to us.

Like I said earlier, the conversations were all very different. Below are the photos and small synopses on what the conversations were like that we listened to.

This video was super short. It was only about 7 minutes long, and the interactions were quick.  The male simply just asked a lot of basic questions like age, ethnicity, school and hobbies.

The video with the second male was slightly deeper than the gentleman before. This video lasted about 16 minutes and their conversation got a little bit deeper than the typical getting to know your information.

This video was with another male, but was longer and more interesting. The first male she talked to was very boring, and stopped the conversations once it got slightly deeper than the basics. The gentle man in the previous paragraph got to know her a little bit better, but not on a super deep level. This gentleman on the other hand really got to know Christina. This video was 23 minutes lone, and Christina even printed out their texting conversation on paper so people could see how long it was. The packet is pictures below, and it is a solid inch thick of a packet.

This video was probably one of my favorites to watch because the conversation seemed so natural. I think because they were two girls talking to each other, that it might have taken some of the uncomfortable sexual tension out. In the other conversations above, either the males seemed really engaged, or out of it. In this conversation, the texting was flowing, and the two girls had feminine, deep conversations. Girls tend to have that kind of effect on others, so two females talking makes for a good conversation. When listening to the actors present this conversation, it just seemed like two friends talking. It sounded like they already knew each other and were just catching up.

In all of the videos, the beginning of the conversations was similar. Most began covering the basics. If the conversations made it past the basics of getting to know whom the other was talking to, the conversations became deeper and more interesting.

When talking to Christina after the art show she said her main purpose was to see the way communication has shifted overtime and how most of our communication is done though technology. Her sociological question was: Can you have a relationship with a stranger you’ve never met? Christina proved that you absolutely can. This relates to what we have been learning in DESMSA, but showing us the combination of art and technology. Christina was able to make an art project though the use of technology. My interpretation on the art show as a whole was that people crave relationship. People want to interact with other people, even if that means over the phone. We have seen many instances where people fall in love over the internet, meet over the internet, and even get married over the internet. This form of art shows the want of sense and the want of belonging. Simply just by having a texting relationship, people can feel like they matter and have a place, even if they never meet the person.