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The Social Media Muse The Social Media Muse A visual analysis of characters and tropes in Amalia Ulman’s Excellences & Perfections School of Arts & Communication K3 Malmö University Spring 2019 Course codes KK649A & KK644B The Social Media Muse Master’s Thesis 2019 Abstract The social media influencer is becoming a prominent trope in contemporary media culture. In her Instagram performance artwork Excellences & Perfections, Amalia Ulman ​ ​ imitated the content and lifestyle of different types of influencers for five months in 2014, gaining attention and inciting controversy when she finally revealed her hoax. She captured problematic aspects of performativity online, examined how it related to tropes and myths in our culture, and ultimately to our sense of identity. By analysing images from her work and comments from her followers at the time, this thesis aims to understand how her art acts as a commentary on issues of digital labour and self-representation through images. Title: The Social Media Muse: A visual analysis of characters and tropes in Amalia Ulman’s ​ Excellences & Perfections Author: Gabriella Karlsson ​ Level: Thesis at Master’s level in Media and Communication Studies ​ Institution: School of arts and communication (K3) ​ Faculty: Culture and society ​ Centre of learning: Malmö University ​ Supervisor: Temi Odumosu ​ Examinator: Erin Cory ​ Term and year: Spring term 2019 ​ Keywords: Identity, performance art, photography, Instagram, representation, myth ​ 1 The Social Media Muse Master’s Thesis 2019 Table of Contents Abstract 1 Table of figures 3 1. Introduction 4 2. Purpose and research questions 5 2.1 Research Questions 5 3. Contextualization 5 4. Literature review 7 4.1 Influencer labour 7 4.2 Modern tropes of femininity 9 4.3 Women and performance art 11 5. Theoretical perspective 14 5.1 Performativity 14 5.2 Representation 15 5.3 Instagram photography and cultural myths 17 6. Method and material 19 6.1 Realization 21 6.2 Strengths and weaknesses of the method 22 6.3 Sample and material 23 6.4 Ethical Considerations 25 7. Results and analysis 27 7.1 The Pastel Babe 27 7.2 The Instagram Baddie 30 7.3 The Yogini 34 7.6 Conclusion 37 8. Summary and discussion 41 8.1 Summary 41 8.2 Discussion 42 9. References 44 Printed References 44 Digital References 46 2 The Social Media Muse Master’s Thesis 2019 Table of figures 1. Saussures model of the sign 20 2. Three of Ulman’s images from Excellences & Perfections 24 3. Three screenshots of the Instagram feed 25 4. A post from act 1 of Excellences & Perfections 27 5. A part of the feed from act 1 of Excellences & Perfections 29 6. A post from act 2 of Excellences & Perfections 30 7. A part of the feed from act 2 of Excellences & Perfections 32 8. A post from act 3 of Excellences & Perfections 34 9. A part of the feed from act 3 of Excellences & Perfections 36 3 The Social Media Muse Master’s Thesis 2019 1. Introduction In 2014, the Argentinian artist Amalia Ulman performed one of the most successful online art performances of that time, called Excellences & Perfections. For five months, ​ ​ she tricked the Internet by curating an Instagram profile that told the story of a young girl trying to make it in Los Angeles. By the time that the story arch was complete and Ulman announced that it had all been a hoax, it had amassed almost 90 000 followers. During these five months, she had not only captured some of the most tenacious tropes of femininity, but also shone a light on troubling notions of authenticity on social media. These themes of authenticity and gender performance make Excellences & ​ Perfections relevant today, since these are topics that continue to be debated as ​ Instagram grows as a platform and as a staple in our digital lifeworld. This art project is an early criticism of what some see as an increasingly unhealthy relationship with Instagram and dubious notions of ‘truth’ online (Appel et al., 2015). Using social media both privately and as part of my work, scrolling through Instagram feeds and producing content is a routine activity for me personally. I value being able to express myself and create freely, but simultaneously I question how free I actually am when what I create is a reflection of how I want others to view me, and what I see others create. It is clearly not an accident that individual expression on Instagram can look so incredibly uniform. In the light of Ulman’s work I was faced with notions of performativity online and I began to reflect on my own images in relation to stereotypical representations online. What are the tropes of our internet culture, and what do they mean for those who try to fit into them? What does it mean to work on Instagram today, where these tropes seem to generate the most engagement? What happens when relentless self-promotion is the “normal” way to use social media? As we spend more time shaping our identities in a digital environment, how we see ourselves, present ourselves and think about the world around us is impacted. It is a topic that is garnering more attention within the field of Media & Communication Studies as social media platforms become central for the communication of both individuals and enterprises, and I want to explore it through Ulman’s eyes. 4 The Social Media Muse Master’s Thesis 2019 2. Purpose and research questions Social media has become notorious over recent years for being the place where people present a polished and highly curated version of their lives. These online spaces are allowing us to tell the idealized story of our lives, and have taken a step away from the more traditional ideas of spontaneous sharing and connecting as certain norms of presentation become ubiquitous. In her performance Excellences & Perfections, Amalia Ulman uses these norms, the ​ ​ tropes surrounding young women on the internet in particular, to explore the many ways it is possible to construct an identity online. The aim of this study is to examine the ways in which she uses Instagram tropes in her portraiture, and how her criticism of Instagram use can be interpreted from theoretical perspectives on performativity and identity. I conducted a pilot study on the topic during an earlier course, and I will be applying the same methods chapter as used there, as well as build upon the analysis that was introduced there in order to expand it. Through qualitative semiotic analysis, this thesis ​ ​ will explore how Amalia Ulman uses Instagram tropes in her online art performance Excellences & Perfections, and how she critiques aspects of digital labour and ​ performativity. 2.1 Research Questions To fulfil the purpose of the thesis, three questions will constitute the basis that the analysis is built upon: ● How does Amalia Ulman use Instagram tropes in her internet art performance Excellences & Perfections? ​ ● How does she critique influencing as a form of labour? ● How does she use portraiture as a mode of self-representation? 5 The Social Media Muse Master’s Thesis 2019 3. Contextualization Since the beginnings of large-scale social media platforms, criticism as well as acclamations to the roles they play in our lives has formed a heated debate. Like a white noise of optimism and concern, it has been constant as the net generation has become more immersed in the digital cultures of online space (Blair, 2015:3). Questionings of authenticity has been a topic of choice for many; some say the filtered nature of online expression creates harmful ideologies (Appel et al., 2015; Ibrahim, 2015), and others say it is an opportunity to explore different kinds of genuine self expression, personal growth and connection with other people (Robards, 2012; Gray et. al. 2018:165-166). Individualisation is often celebrated, but overlooked is the fact that on social media as well as outside of it, a trend that becomes popular enough will be used for commercial gain as well as for self expression. We seek the unusual, adopt it, and slowly turn it into a cliché so common that we can hardly distinguish it anymore. When Ulman began her provocations in 2014, the photography-based platform Instagram had been around for four years and was relatively new (Blystone, 2015). Social media influencers were an up-and-coming phenomenon and the first tentative research on their relevance and monetary worth in brand marketing was being published (Murphy & Schram, 2014). Ulman herself noted that Instagram hadn’t yet turned into a place for anyone and everyone to cultivate their personal brand, and that her performance couldn’t have been done with the same success today (Eler, 2018). She said that in comparison to back then, all users are now required to think like celebrities in the way they consider their self-presentation. Today it is influencers who are the creators and reinforcers of the online trends that dictate what kind of aesthetics we see as normal or beautiful. The photograph in particular has a history of being discussed in terms of authenticity (Sontag, 2008:5, 6), and with the developments of digital photography manipulation in recent years, the discussion about what claims the medium has to objective validity is still as interesting as ever. Performance artists such as Saint Orlan and Cindy Sherman have taken advantage of this in their work, exploring performativity through photography. Ulman’s performance was the next generation in 6 The Social Media Muse Master’s Thesis 2019 their line of work, honing in on the social media platforms we now use to display parts of our lives. 4. Literature review In this chapter I aim to shed light on earlier research within the field, to further contextualize the thesis.
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