Top16

This essay originally appeared in New Zealand Art at Te Papa (Te Papa Press, 2018).

Janet Lilo’s artistic exploration of social media stems from her ongoing interest in local and global popular culture. In 2006 Bebo was New Zealand's most popular social networking website — particularly among Māori and Pacific youth, who were creatively customising their profile pages to connect and build their online networks.1 At one point a self-confessed Bebo addict, Lilo found herself endlessly clicking through profile pages: ‘It was like a portal into people’s little worlds, infinite internet art galleries and I was amazed at how people portrayed themselves publicly on the internet for others to see … Everything is online, family bbqs, clubbing, Nana, rest in peace photos, pets, full face bandanas, the mirror, art exhibitions, hot boys and girls, travelling, anything really.’2

Lilo’s first-hand observations of public presentations of private life inspired the multimedia installation Top16. It comprises physical interpretations of online content taken from social networking websites including Bebo, MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. Lilo’s acts of reinterpretation include online profile photographs printed as standard six-by-four-inch photographic prints, printed graphic drawings and YouTube clips used to create mash-up videos.

Each component of the installation is arranged using the template of an online profile, merging the dynamics of social media with those of the art gallery. The arrangement encourages visitors to engage with the installation as a profile page, to browse through photographs, watch YouTube videos and leave a comment on a picnic table using felt-tip markers. The gallery is thus transformed into an interactive social space.

Like the digital landscape that Lilo mines, the installation has evolved with every iteration of the work. Since its first display in 2006 it has been shown ten times in different configurations, offering new aggregations of online content and fresh insights into the codified nature of online self-representations. As a physical artwork, Lilo’s installation also acts as an archive that documents a distinct post-internet moment, where identities and notions of public and private are increasingly shaped by social networks.

Nina Tonga

1 ‘Bebo tops social networking sites in NZ’, National Business Review, 24 May 2006, www.nbr.co.nz/article/bebo-tops-social-networking-sites-nz (accessed 9 January 2018).

2 Nina Tonga, ‘Slow internet 2004–09’, Janet Lilo: Status update, Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland, 2016, p. 29.