The Facebook Show

Tell all your friends

By Robert del Valle

Special to Metromix

  (Credit: Marco Coraggio of Salerno, Italy)

Photos:

 

         

Facebook. Where would we be without it? Indeed, where were we before it showed up like an enveloping cloud - embracing us, linking us, inviting us, and reminding us over and over again that you don't have to be face to face with anyone in order to be ... face to face with everyone.

Too early (or too late?) to debate such matters. And what would be the point? Facebook is here and it's staying. Anyway, WE know we're your favorite website and a little competition is healthy now and then.

Besides, the ubiquitous "place where friends meet" has done us an indirect favor. It prompted Jef Bourgeau and his colleagues at Pontiac's Museum of New Art (all three-dimensional people, thank you) to set up an exhibit devoted to real friends in the real world. And here's the welcome twist - they've decided to use Facebook profile pictures as the "medium."

So what you will be seeing starting June 19 is a perceptive visual essay with such appropriate words as ironic, expedient, humorous, timely, and (perhaps) inevitable being called into service for the occasion. Jef was good enough to provide a little more background information.

Why an exhibit of Facebook faces and whose idea was it?
An artist from New York came through Detroit about a year ago, and insisted that I and the museum both "go on FB" because "everyone in the art world" was utilizing it. I went on, but never really utilized the site until I decided to pursue this project. And I decided to pursue it the moment I began to realize how many of the profile portraits were really exciting images in themselves Then, as I went hunting for more faces, I was amazed at how right that woman turned out to be - and equally surprised at the sheer number of artists, critics, and art historians who were indeed on FB.

TIME devoted a cover story to Facebook and examined both its pervasive influence and its effect on privacy? Comment? And how do those issues touch upon art?
Facebook is different from other networks - such as Myspace which (in my opinion) is abused terribly by many users. FB is a social network that is more controlled and focused. I know people complain about privacy issues (who doesn't these days?), but again the social factor (which is the most important factor, of course) is more powerful on FB. Art is meant to be public anyway. There should never be privacy issues with a work of art. The more who view the art, the more successful the work of art can be. That simple.

How many people were contacted and how many people responded?
Actually, I was kicked off for several days while I was messaging friends for their portraits! Some red flag went off - perhaps on the assumption or suspicion that I was spamming. Anyway this forced me to work around the system and create new contacts and new friends - and so the original list of 50 quickly grew to about 155. And of these, only two actually declined - both of them good friends and colleagues who were shy about their portraits being made more public. One was a painter and the other a photographer and both only made portraits of other people. That struck me as a curious response. But all the others contacted were very excited about the project. And so, when I was finally allowed back onto FB officially, many of my original friends had not been contacted. I've planned a Volume II show for October that will probably include twice the number as in this exhibit.

And in addition to being genuine friends of MONA (and of yours, of course), they represent a wide range of talent and experience in their own right.
Totally. From local friends in Detroit like Amanda Faye Cain, Davin Brainard, and Kristin Beaver to artists from across the country and globe like Eric Fischl, Ann Gordon, David Hockney, Brenda Goodman, Jessica Stockholder, and Alison Brady; art historians like Arthur C. Danto and Edward Lucie-Smith; and gallerists like Leo Koenig, Zach Feuer and Darlene Carroll.

Are you on Facebook yourself?
As I said at the start, after the NY artist insisted - well, I went on and put the museum on as well. But only with this current project did I truly come to realize how extensive the artist network is on Facebook - and how wonderful that can be for both a curator and an artist.

 
The Facebook Show, Saturday, June 19. Opening reception 6-10 p.m., Museum of New Art, 7 Saginaw St., Pontiac.