Street Ghosts
Street Ghosts is by the artist Paolo Cirio, which he completed in 2012. This work is a collection of images of people that were taken from the street view of Google Maps. These images were then printed and pasted in the locations where they were originally taken. There are pieces from this work across the world; therefore, the work cannot be viewed firsthand all at once. The various posters are diverse, displaying the different cultures and ways of life across the globe. Some include one individual, while others include several people or even animals as well.
One might consider a major concept of this work to be the idea that ghosts never leave the place where they once lived, hence the name Street Ghosts. Furthermore, these posters are ghosts in the idea that they were freed from the Internet and placed on the streets to haunt the real world. Kieran Corcoran, from Daily Mail, wrote:
“However, as well as offering a quirky insight into the interaction between the Internet and the physical world, for Mr Cirio, his work also bears an important political point. By placing the photos back into reality, he says he is drawing attention to how Google took the images of people in the first place without asking.” Corcoran, Kieran (2013, Sep 17) Bringing Google's ghosts to life: Artist pastes eerie life-size images of pedestrians from Street View at the very spot where they were captured
After understanding Cirio’s process of this work, one might conclude that privacy no longer exists, especially with the development of technology. These individuals, who probably thought nobody was watching them, were photographed by Google and are now publicly, displayed works of art across the world. Through this work, it is evident that someone has technological access to what we are doing at all times, even when we think nobody is around.
Street Ghosts is both artistically and conceptually similar to Paolo Cirio’s most recent work from 2015, Overexposed (http://www.paolocirio.net/work/hd-stencils/overexposed/). This work is a collection of photographs of U.S. Officials that were placed publicly around the world. However, the photographs are personal photos that he found through social media websites. He then rendered the photos with an HD stencil style before pasting them in major cities. Again, one might conclude that this work focuses on the issue of privacy. We all believe we have privacy; however, those who wish can access lots of our personal information.
Ryder Ripps’ Phone Pix (2015) is another artwork that is similar to Street Ghosts (http://ryder-ripps.com/phone-pix/). In this piece, Ripps photographs numerous people using their mobile phones without them knowing. The artists’ intentions were to show how our cell phones influence our behavior through gestures and fashion; however, one might agree that it can exemplify the issue of privacy invasion that Cirio focuses on in his works. The subjects in his work were unaware that they were being photographed.
Street Ghosts a part of the following exhibitions:
· Street Ghosts, exhibition at International Kunstverein Luxembourg – Luxembourg
Sources
Cirio, P. (2015). Overexposed - HD Stencils - Paolo Cirio - Conceptual Artist. Retrieved April 05, 2016, from http://www.paolocirio.net/work/hd-stencils/overexposed/
Cirio, P. (2012). Street Ghosts - Paolo Cirio - Conceptual Artist. Retrieved April 05, 2016, from http://www.paolocirio.net/work/street-ghosts/
Corcoran, K. (2013). Bringing Google's ghosts to life: Artist pastes eerie life-size images of pedestrians from Street View at the very spot where they were captured. Retrieved April 05, 2016, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2424131/Rise-Google-ghosts-Artist-pastes-eerie-life-size-images-pedestrians-captured-Street-View-exactly-location-real-world.html
Rips, R. (2015). Ryder Ripps, Phones of The Met, 2015. Retrieved April 05, 2016, from http://ryder-ripps.com/phone-pix/phones-of-the-met/
Rips, R. (2015). Ryder Ripps, Phone Pix, ongoing series. Retrieved April 05, 2016, from http://ryder-ripps.com/phone-pix/
