Comfortable with discord

Senior exit Show (2017)

artist’s statement

Today’s world has a constant outpour of content, as well as a relentless intake of personal data. Bias is easily succumbed to when content is curated to affirm your beliefs, and truth is harder to find when headlines fight for the spotlight. Thanks to our capability to share and see everything, our insular bubbles have grown. 

This vulnerability to technology became apparent in the recent election. On each side, the media pandered to specific groups, spinning news to fit their narrative. Previously moderate political parties became polarized and talking politics without inciting an emotional debate became taboo. Was this a result of allowing ourselves to be manipulated by the current Information Age that we are only beginning to understand? 

I created “Comfortable with Discord” while thinking about how (social) media plays a role in divisiveness and how we have adapted. Though a lot of good has come from our heightened exposure to the world, we have also come to absorb so much information daily that shocking events from weeks past seem like ancient history. This inundation of content is overwhelming and desensitizing, especially when it does not affect us first hand. We take bits and pieces of information without inquiring further and call it truth, and if others have different truths we demean them without questioning our own. We tend to focus on our interpersonal conflicts and forget about the big picture. So is this where we are now? Chillin’ in the bubble, comfortable with the discord around us?