Selfless

Photobook by Eugène Blove
Published by Classe Moyenne Editions

In his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell had anticipated the metaphorical character of Big Brother, a symbol of both authoritarianism and the omnipresent surveillance of society. However, what he could not foresee was that fiction would eventually exceed reality as social networks and selfies have led us to a conditioned era run by a society of auto-surveillance.

Lately, several A.I. research laboratories tied in with the most famous of these intrusive organizations formed a coalition and developed facial recognition software. Mankind cannot stop pushing its — ethical or not – own boundaries, time, and again.

Likely aware of the fact that such software is also a step forward into a world where the forces of control prevail, hypothetical marketing of it is still controversial.

Ask yourself: how many photographs do you appear in, without even being aware of it? Some go as far as to claim that selfie is art: where does the artistic condition stop? Does being an artist essentially require narcissism? Artist Eugène Blove raises all these questions through the use of anti-selfies: selfies of which he is neither the author nor the subject. Photographs of anonymous people, random photographs, modern contingency. The same man, in the background, in every single photograph. Where is the deception? Nowhere and everywhere at the same time since the unintentional collaboration of this peculiar social network made this collection possible — Blove called upon some accomplished people to hack into its system.

More than just a reference to Kim Kardashian’s Selfish, Selfless is an anticipating insurrectionary project which reveals the trap we are laying for ourselves.

Selfless is a hole in the void.

13×17 cm
102 pages
Paper Print speed Offset 120 gr
250 copies