Artist Post: Street Ghosts, Paolo Cirio

   "Ghostly human bodies appear as casualties of the info-war in the city..." (Paolo Cirio)

   Paolo Cirio is a media artist that dabbles in various fields. "Street Ghosts", specifically, is considered to be net-art. He is most notable for exploring the influence that information has on social, political, and economic factors. His work is meant to create a reaction (i.e. thought provoking) and it certainly does when legal consequences come his way. For example, in 2011, he "stole" 1 million Facebook profile pictures and republished them on a mock dating site, ordering them by facial expressions. Specifically, I wish to explore his work known as "Street Ghosts."

http://streetghosts.net/

   "Street Ghosts" is composed of people captured by Google's Street View cameras. They are reprinted as low-resolution, human scale posters. The images are intentional blurred as to create a "digital shadow." The printed posters are then posted on the walls in the original spot the picture was taken on the Street View camera. The art straddles two worlds: digital and real.
   Paolo notes that Street Ghosts is intended to explore the boundaries of ownership when it comes to personal lives. It is a war between public and private. The pictures taken on Google are without the person's permission, invading on their privacy but somehow in a legal manner. Paolo is reversing this by using the images without Google's permission.
   Street art is often in expression to a cause. Printed where all can see, it is a public statement and the artist may be well aware of the consequences. Paolo is no exception. His art may not be ascetically pleasing to the eye, but it packs in a statement....in public. Legal consequences may arise, but this only gains his work, and his view on society, more attention. Personally, "Street Ghosts" would be hard for me to grasp as a viewer unless I knew the background intentions of the project. I would more than likely pass by without even seeing it. Yet, maybe this is also part of Paolo's point. Many bystanders would also pass by these images, upholding the notion that they are "ghosts." In critique, I believe that by making the art larger than just human size would create a more noticeable effect. The viewer would, then, not be able to simply just pass by the image. They would be starring at a larger-then-life form, giving an omnipresent aesthetic.

http://streetghosts.net/
http://eyebeam.org/people/paolo-cirio
http://www.paolocirio.net/cv.php