812 texts + 47 men = three hours at the YUAG
There are few things as embarrassing as sending a text message and receiving no reply.
But here's one: sending a text message to a performance artist whose work is all about sending and receiving text messages — and receiving no reply.
That's what happened to me yesterday at the Yale University Art Gallery, where Haley Hogan '09 had stationed herself in a bathtub and was thumbing away on her BlackBerry from 5 to 8 p.m. Behind Hogan was a screen that scrolled through 812 text messages she received while living in New York City for four months last year. The messages...
oh my god i can't believe this was someone's senior project. it's a cool idea, but it makes me want to cry that i've spent a year going to the lab everyday and am getting the same credit as this project.
Interesting to see her father there grinning from behind his camcorder. How proud he must be!
Anon: That wasn't her father taping. It was her uncle.
@y09: where did it say this was her senior project? she organized this separately from her academic work, received no credit for it, and her senior thesis was 65 pages, so screw off.
It wasn't her senior project, she just did it! Don't worry, she wrote a long art history essay, she logged the same hours you did, labber. Shoulda picked a major that was more fun!
Really interesting. She's the next Edie Beale, the next Rielle Hunter!
Hey "y09" - Get your facts straight and think twice (or even once for that matter) before sharing your inane and abject thoughts with others. Not only was this not her senior project, but it had nothing to do with her academics whatsoever. It was done totally on her own. If you don't enjoy "going to the lab everyday" then obviously you should have picked a major that better suited you. Oh and maybe a few more art classes might have helped you out some. With you Yale has failed, and for that I feel sorry for both you and the university.
Haley - Good job! Thanks for sharing your creativity with us! I really enjoyed it. Thank goodness there are people like you at Yale. Otherwise it would be a truly dismal place. Bravo!
Haley, way to defend yourself in these comments! You really got us, posting as "A" and "Leah," even twelve minutes apart. Tell us how you really feel.
This was so awesome - you had to be there to appreciate how much consideration she gave this project - both visually and conceptually. I think it was a great success.
Hi BR'10,
Thanks for the comment, though I didn't have anything to do with the above comments from "A" and "Leah"... I guess I just have supportive friends. In terms of how I really feel, the piece was cathartic for me and more universally relevant to the frenetic virtual-obsessed times in which we live. I was not trying to be preachy in my approach, as it was clear from the performance that this reality permeates my own life, and I don't fight it at all (I am on Twitter, I check my Blackberry constantly, I have a blog, etc.)--I hoped that the piece would at least heighten a viewer's awareness of the fact that texting (and its internet extensions) alters the way people relate to each other, and this change often has negative manifestations.
Thanks for commenting.. xxo HH
ha...nothing like performance art at yale!