top of page

This is what it means when I say 'I Love You'

Acetate Print

170*60

2019

Interim Show 3.png
Interim Show 2.png

          From a culture where “I Love You” was almost out of anyone’s vocabulary to a fast-paced Internet culture where saying “I Love You” is as popular as a radio love song. The Internet generation is drowning in this overload of information where we can no longer distinguish fake from real or retain any kind of overload. And this also applies to how we are creating relationships nowadays. Internet is advertising isolation with happy colourful signs (emojis). Either because we no longer have time to socialize or because we fear the exposure, online relationships are growing. With online relationships I mean any kind of love expressed through Internet. Even long-distance relationships. Online relationships need to follow the flow of information in a fast-paced way and for that reason “I Love You” is said a lot more easily and is a constant expression because we need the repetitiveness in order to stand out feelings from all the other information. “I Love You” is losing its meaning and it does not feel enough on its own. Either we say it millions of times or feel the need to add emojis next to it in order to make the message stand out. We are creating relationships with our devices and not with a person. It’s a commitment with social media to keep this connection alive. It’s a commitment with technology, a relationship. We are more intimate with our devices than with people.

           With this work I wanted to emphasise these ideas and expose what we actually mean when we say “I Love You” by translating our language to computer language. The mid-way between ‘handcrafted’ and digital gives us this subtle but strong critique to the society.  Taking the language from the computer and exposing it, the viewer finds it difficult to understand. The computer language is meaningless, saying “I Love You” online is meaningless. 

bottom of page