If you read my blog, it’s likely that you read a number of blogs run by my friends, the unofficially organized but still very real society of lady bloggers.
As such, you’ve probably already read countless articles about twitter and what a great tool it is for networking, supplementing your blog, and killing time at the office…
But I want to talk about twitter in a different way.
I want to talk about twitter as a means for artistic expression.
I, myself, have been striving to use twitter in an artistic way…but it’s so very hard to do so when you’re also trying to use it to facilitate your social life.
However, there are some people who have pulled this off much better than I, and you should know who they are:
Who she is:
Jenny Holzer is a conceptual artist, best known for her use of profound text in prominent public spaces.
Why you should follow her:
Quite frankly, twitter is the perfect digital canvas for the work she’s been putting on billboards, posters, and bathroom stalls for the past several decades.
It’s unclear to me whether this is Holzer’s official twitter, or if someone is just republishing her work. This doesn’t matter much to me, because I just can’t get enough of what she has to say.
Sample Tweets:
“ROMANTIC LOVE WAS INVENTED TO MANIPULATE WOMEN”
“PEOPLE WON’T BEHAVE IF THEY HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE”
“MYTH CAN MAKE REALITY MORE INTELLIGIBLE”
http://twitter.com/jennyholzer
Who he is:
Filmaker, Marxist, and leader of the Situationist International, best known for writing Society of the Spectacle and Comments on the Society of the Spectacle.
Why you should follow him:
Whoever is tweeting Mr. DeBord’s words from the grave (DeBord died in 1994), picks selections that relate to each other in succession. The things said are made more profound by what has been said before.
Unfortunately, this account has been inactive for several months…Perhaps new followers will make the DeBord ghostwriter pick it up again.
Sample Tweets:
“The spectacle within society corresponds to a concrete manufacture of alienation.”
“This is why the spectator feels at home nowhere, because the spectacle is everywhere.”
“What binds the spectators together is no more than an irreversible relation at the very center which maintains their isolation. ”
http://twitter.com/guydebord
Who he is:
Chip Zdarsky is a cartoonist from toronto who’s gritty take on life is nothing short of hilarious.
Why you should follow him:
If you’re like me, and enjoy dark humor, you will laugh until you spit your morning coffee out all over your keyboard.
Sample tweets:
“I’m going to tear you a new one, right next to the old one.”
“I find that a real conversation starter on a first date is a shovel. Bring one along and see!”
“I need to believe in something bigger than myself, like, say, a seven-foot version of me.”
http://twitter.com/zdarsky
What it is:
Oblique Strategies is a set of published cards created by musician Brian Eno, and artist Peter Schmidt. The cards are printed with odd and interesting methods to solve a conflict or dillemma.
Why you should follow:
Eno and Schmidt solve problems in ways I only think of in dreams.
Sample tweets:
“Take away as much mystery as possible. What is left?”
“Instead of changing the thing, change the world around it.”
“Question the heroic approach.”
http://twitter.com/Oblique_Chirps
Please let me know if you’re aware of other people using twitter in anything but the usual way!
Also, y’all can add me here: thisisstar on twitter.
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