Top 16

Top 16

Janet Lilo

Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa
Wellington

Long Term Exhibition from 2018

Postponed due to COVID 19 response, all NZ art galleries closed.

Janet Lilo developed this installation over 10 years, researching how people use social networking websites. She drew from thousands of images and videos she collected from Bebo, Myspace, Facebook, and YouTube – ‘a portal into people’s little worlds, infinite internet galleries’. The title refers to a Bebo feature that allowed users to rank 16 friends. The neon sign is inspired by a Bebo invitation to give friends virtual love hearts.

Lilo explores how social media allows us to shape our identities online – and reinvent the self-portrait form.