Taking an art break for…Twitter

by Kate Watson September 20, 2009

Say what you will about it, but let me tell you: I freaking love Twitter. Never before has social media allowed for such easy stalking following of so many people and organizations at once. My list, like anyone’s, include actual friends, crushes, colleagues, frenemies, ex-boyfriends, celebrities, intellectual giants…you get the idea.  On Facebook, it’s creepy to “friend” people whom you don’t or barely know. On Twitter? Anything goes. We live in truly astounding times, and it is revolutionizing the way we think. Below is a video crammed with interweb fun facts sure to boggle the brain:

I’ve been thinking about how this cultural revolution of sorts is shaping art production and thinking. Not to get too utopian on ya’ll, but I’m fascinated by the way we browse, free associate, jump from random point to random point. We might engage superficially or deeply with others in these virtual nooks and crannies, but more often than not, we fly solo. I truly believe that the act of surfing is a creative endeavor consuming many of our lives, and that Twitter and Google Reader (and Facebook, used properly) are excellent and efficient tools for sharing the fruits of our strange solo adventuring.
Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight from the Office) is one of my favorite new Twitter “friends.” I subscribe to all sorts of Twitter feeds, but often his posts are the best. Go figure…Dwight. Of all people. He posted this video recently, a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson, a sharp British guru on the intersection of creativity and work:

Ok so if schools are supposedly sucking away our creativity, if degrees are meaning less and less, where does all of this intellectual virtual meandering fit in to our interior lives?
How are you using the Internet? Are you passively following acquaintances from high school all day long on Facebook? Are you consuming hundreds of images on visual art blogs? Are you digging for local events or new restaurants or bands to go see? Are you using the web as a site for personal reflection?

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