Self-Expression And The Exclusivity Of Thoughts: Talk To Yourself - Essay Example

 Self-Expression And The Exclusivity Of Thoughts: Talk To Yourself Self-expression has been reasonably hampered because of trepidations that pertain to multiplicity of thoughts and privacy. As it goes, silence is the better part of discretion. But in this quest for discretion there is a tendency to forego contemplation in favour of prudence. The “Talk to Yourself Hat” is by artist Kate Hartman that can be found at New York’s Museum of Modern Art begs to ask the question of what happens when there is unbridled self-expression. The exclusivity of thoughts in its unadulterated way without the selection process before it comes out of our mouth and communicated to others is the primary purpose of the design. When everyone around us has something to say there is a tendency to get drowned in the noise of everyone else and forget one’s own voice and the value of contemplation. The title is very much straightforward and most probably the most direct to the point title it could possibly have. Seeing the artwork and correlating it to its name yields that snap feeling of understanding what it is all about in a heartbeat. But there is more to it than just the quirky idea of one of those rhetoric that people sometimes have materializing. The all-white colored tight head cap has muffs that extend to both ears. A funnel is made of basic materials connected to a flexible type of tubing that is joined to the earpieces. When speaking through the mouthpiece, the person wearing the hat will hear his own voice to the exclusion of all others. It is such inventiveness and should I dare say chutzpa that compels such people as Hartman to actually creative those little ideas that we often let pass. Essentially, the piece is by itself a symbolism of communication and what implications come with it. In this era of divergence and instantaneous communication where ‘googling’ yourself is a verb and personal information are out there in the virtual world, we sometimes get lost into the sentiment of personal privacy. The need to connect with others is as customary as it could possibly get. Almost all of the things that occupy us in today’s world are centered on communication. Social networking media, instant messaging services, online multiplayer games, video sharing sites, text messaging and so many other forms of technology are all built to cater to one of the most primitive and essential of all our predilection, and that is our need to communicate. But all of these that persuade us to put little bits of ourselves out there that evolve around the constructive loss of privacy either in part or in whole. You only have got to open your Facebook account to be greeted by four simple words that induce you to blurt out just about anything, “What’s on your mind?” It does not need much effort to hypothesize on just about how many people got offended, fought over or even lost their jobs because of this. At the outset, this has also ignited a great number of conversations and the bridging of people. Technology has changed our lives, how utilize them has revolutionized our culture. The norms of today are a far cry from how it was even just 50 years ago. The change in communication is the most obvious and Hartman relates it through her artwork. The design of the hat is to bring back that necessity of self-expression for personal consumption. The “Talk to Yourself Hat” is one of the pieces in her collection that challenges changing communication tools to possibly see where it takes us. Hartman describes it by saying, “It physically carves out conversation space for one. And when you speak out loud, the sound of your voice is actually channelled back into your own ears” (par., 4). The materials are very crude composing of basic materials that are mostly found at home. As she herself has pointed out, it is not so much about how the piece looks like or what it is made of but “the negative space around the object” (ibid.). The experience that one has in having to listen to your own words, similar to looking at yourself in the mirror, or more simplistically it is listening to your own words. The notion of privacy in today’s world is considerably more difficult than how it was back then. Private conversations are not so private anymore and the information on the news can attest to that. There are websites specifically dedicated for such purposes as divulging information secured illegally without the knowledge of those involved. This creates a well-deserved fear of revealing more than what we should that is not necessarily limited in the internet and other communication devices. When everyone is susceptible to that attitude that borders self-absorption by having to share everything, the value of contemplation diminishes. This is the primary use of the hat, it encourages not just thinking but more importantly the deliberation on the content and meaning of our thoughts. Similar to an echo, it allows the insistence of ideas and provides more opportunity for analysis. It is evident that a person is most uninhibited when we are alone. When most people tend to reveal for the prospect of sharing to everyone, the hat invokes an intimate personal conversation. The design and the execution of the piece are manifestly humorous and the artist herself does not deny this, but the conceptualization and significance is not restricted to the eccentric and the mundane. It is a timely commentary on where we are and where we are headed. The apprehension over the loss of privacy obstructs expression. Whatever we put out there especially in the internet will forever remain in cyberspace. There is a need to protect privacy as the legal orders are not enough and the intrinsic maliciousness of human nature conflicts this issue. Recent technologies are designed to cater to that need to communicate and the want to be informed. Social campaigns have multiplied calling out for social media responsibility that encourages people to be more conscientious in what they communicate. In the same way that we have become more aware of the adverse effects of these uncontrolled forms of communication. Thinking and talking are two distinct acts that must be mutually exclusive of one another when you are not within the comfort of total privacy. We only get to know others by first knowing who we are. Provoking thoughts and the most valuable of ideas often come from thorough self-reflection as this is in itself the purest form of expression because there is no hesitation or any chance for criticism. Privacy is among the tenets of personal security that we hold dear. When everyone is talking and communicating the most ordinary thing to the most life-changing it becomes a tedious task to be able to filter through ourselves what we need to communicate. The “Talk to Yourself Hat” is a contemplative design that provides for self-expression and advocates its value because silence is not necessarily the answer. Bibliography Hartman, Kate. "Kate Hartman: The Art of Wearable Communication Video on TED.com."TED: Ideas worth Spreading. TED, Sept. 2011. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. . "Talk to Yourself Hat." Kate Hartman. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. . Read More