"Upon the altar of an artist’s thoughtful creativity, we offer our own banality."

You Probably Think This Art Is About YouCAROLYN STEWART

How selfie-taking reconfigures our relationship to art.

"Selfies present a catch-22 of mutually conflicting intentions. Increasingly, we take selfies to signify that we’re in the presence of something extraordinary. A Paul McCartney concert is more likely to warrant a selfie than an afternoon spent scrubbing the bathtub. We are motivated by a desire to let the invisible audiences of social media know that we are affiliated with an exalted object, person, or place. Yet in the process of taking a selfie, we degrade the object of our respect by subordinating it to our self-promotion. We push the artwork behind us in a literal act of giving it the cold shoulder. Upon the altar of an artist’s thoughtful creativity, we offer our own banality. What requires less intellectual engagement, less genuine consideration, than smiling and looking into a camera?

By taking selfies and turning art into accessory, we’re not only robbing ourselves on a personal level—we are shaping the collective experience and depriving our friends as well."