WHITE ARTDo you ever feel like you just don’t get art? You’re not alone. A lot of people see it as something complicated, full of interpretations that seem to come out of nowhere.
The truth is, art doesn’t have a single way of being understood. There’s no right answer, and many so-called experts are just repeating what they’ve heard or trying to sound sophisticated—but deep down, they’re just as lost as you.
Art is subjective. Sometimes it hits you, sometimes it leaves you cold, and that’s okay. You don’t have to understand it the way others explain it. If something catches your eye, makes you feel something, or just intrigues you, that’s your connection to art, and it’s just as valid as anyone else’s.
That being said, here we have a guy covering himself in white paint—or some kind of plaster, I don’t even know—and leaving marks on the floor. Is it art? Well, if they say so, sure. But I’m sharing it with you for another reason: watch how a woman from the audience seizes the moment to cop a feel—gloves and all. Honestly, the second video got to me more than the first. The first one is just for context.
Now, if I stick to what I said earlier… does that make the second video art? Well, by that logic, yes—it is.
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I saw fear in his eyes.
NARCISSISM AND SOCIALMEDIA VOL30It's funny how when we see someone recording themselves in public, talking to their phone and exaggerating gestures, we feel a strong sense of secondhand embarrassment, yet that same video seems much more normal when we see it on social media. It might still make us cringe, but we process it differently. The key difference is that in real life, we don’t just feel discomfort—we perceive the person as ridiculous, out of place. On social media, even if they still seem absurd, the format smooths out that awkwardness and makes it easier to digest.
Editing, music, and dynamic cuts help frame the content in a way that fits the kind of media we consume daily, but if someone seems ridiculous, they’ll remain so, with or without filters.
Another factor is the break in reality. Watching someone film themselves strips away the illusion, like seeing a magician set up a trick before performing it. Then there’s the difference between witnessing something and being an audience—on the street, we feel like unwilling participants in something we didn’t choose to watch, whereas on social media, we’re already in consumer mode, so even if something makes us uncomfortable, it doesn’t trigger the same rejection.
Social dynamics also play a role. When we see someone recording in public, we share the secondhand embarrassment through glances or comments with whoever is next to us. But online, there's no external reinforcement, and we process it in a completely different way.
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Today's slow-motion moment.