Installation visualization for 8,5 Faces by Maria Mavropoulou, showing social-media profiles beside a blurred viewer and contrasting embodied identity with a fragmented, curated and performative online self.

8,5 Faces

According to a statistic study the average internet user in 2019 has 8,5 accounts on social platforms.

Every platform has a different purpose, either to stay in contact with friends and family, to find the best job opportunities or even to find a romantic partner. It seems that nowadays there is a platform for every aspect of our life.

I usually think of the notion of personality as being something spherical, in the digital world though we generally get to experience only parts of someone’s personality through a two dimensional screen.  In this piece I present my own 8,5 faces in order to question how differently myself is presented throughout them.

This project was created in 2020.

 
Facebook self-portrait from 8,5 Faces, showing a carefully selected profile photograph and cover image while exploring fractured identity, public persona and staged self-presentation on social media.
 
Messenger self-portrait from 8,5 Faces, showing Maria Mavropoulou within a messaging interface and examining how digital communication selectively presents intimate and social aspects of identity.
 
Snapchat self-portrait from 8,5 Faces, representing Maria Mavropoulou through a Bitmoji and Snapcode and exploring avatar identity, playful performance and the curation of personality online.
 
Tinder self-portrait from 8,5 Faces, showing a curated dating profile of Maria, 30, in Athens and exploring staged identity, digital intimacy and the selective performance of attractiveness online.
 
 
 
Instagram self-portrait from 8,5 Faces, presenting Maria Mavropoulou as a visual artist, image eater and photographer while exploring curated identity, personal expression and performative artistic personas.
 
LinkedIn self-portrait from 8,5 Faces, showing Maria Mavropoulou’s professional profile and examining career identity as a selective, staged and platform-specific performance of the self.
 
 
Twitter self-portrait from 8,5 Faces, showing an artist profile and shared cultural content while exploring public identity, personal expression, social-media personas and the curation of a fractured online self.