2010

Gumtree

 

Gumtree was a multi-faceted project involving research and investigation focused on attitudes to the internet, particularly the freedom it offers as a platform for personal expression, and the complacent approach many have to posting personal information in such a public arena.

Information gathered from the internet was analised and interpreted into graphs and tables, using webpage screen-grabs to form an aesthetic key. These preliminary investigations were then transformed into a human-sized graph, allowing what is typically 2D information to be experienced both spatially and intimately by the viewer.

To further the investigative process, five volunteers were interviewed. The interviewees discussed their views of the internet, and experienced revelations of their complacency in their use of, and dependency on the resource, particularly on social media sites such as Facebook.

The final stage of Gumtree involved Google Image searches using key words and phrases from a number of people’s Twitter and Facebook posts, discovered during the investigative process. Each collection of images formed an alternative portrait of the individual, revealing clues to their character and cultural background.