Tumblr-Blogger | Visual Ekstasis

  "I don’t think it’s intuitive or conceptual, I just take it as it is and use it day to day." Tumblr kann Tagebuch, Pinnwand, künstlerisches Werkzeug, Portfolio, Netzwerk oder eine Nachrichtenseite sein. Die Plattform ist individuell verwendbar und erhebt dabei nur wenig Ansprüche an ihren Benutzer. Zwar ist Tumblr ein soziales Netzwerk wie Facebook, Twitter und Co., doch unterscheidet es sich insbesondere in seinem Verständnis von Autorschaft von den klassischen Plattformen. Die Inhalte sind oftmals anderen Tumblr-Blogs entnommen und nicht bei jedem Blog ist sofort klar, ob es sich um eigens produzierte oder rebloggte Einträge handelt - auch wenn es letztlich immer nachvollzogen werden kann. Auch auf das Personenprofil verzichtet Tumblr und wahrscheinlich liegt gerade in der Möglichkeit von Anonymität das Potential des Netzwerks. Doch wer steckt hinter den Millionen Tumblr-Blogs? Wer tätigt Tag für Tag neue Einträge und ist live dabei, wenn es ihm andere gleich tun? Die Reihe "Tumblr-Blogger im Interview" wirft einen Blick hinter die Kulissen der visuellen Anarchie und gibt einen Einblick in die Arbeitsweise und das Selbstverständnis besonders markanter Blogger. •••

Christopher O’Kelley startete visualekstasis.tumblr.com im Januar 2013 mit vier Gif-Animationen, die Frauen beim Einklatschen ihrer Hände zeigen. Frauenpower ist auch insofern Programm, als sich der Tumblr für Frauen im Bild interessiert, die jenseits klassischer Schönheitsideale angesiedelt sind, trotzdem aber nur mit dem Attribut "schön" versehen werden können. Man könnte den Blog als eine Hommage an die Frau verstehen. Dabei hat O'Kelley, was die Auswahl seines Bildmaterials betrifft, neben sehr populären Fotografen/innen immer auch unbekannte im Blick. Interessant wird es vor allem dann, wenn er zeitgenössische Fotografien mit Werken aus der Kunstgeschichte kombiniert. Und wenn ganz selten auch das ein oder andere Selbstporträt auftaucht.   ••• Sofrischsogut hat Christopher O'Kelley über seine Beziehung zu Tumblr befragt.How much time do you spend with your tumblr? This can vary from day to day but I would say, on average, I spend about two hours per day on tumblr and about half of that time is spent on my tumblr in particular. So I would say about one hour per day. How would you characterize your own tumblr? (Here you can list some adjectives or make a short statement about the intention of your tumblr.) My tumblr is what I would call an aesthetic intervention. It is a place where I post and reblog images that I feel work towards raising the aesthetic awareness and education of all of those who take time look at the images I post. I feel that there are so many wonderful creatives in the world today making images that have a place in the context of high art but they are not represented by the mainstream art world due to its narrow, profit driven focus. On my tumblr I intend to create a context for quality art and artists to rub elbows with masters of the past in order to create a dialogue between what I consider great contemporary art and the high art of generations before us. I have a background in Art History so that particular study informs my taste and aesthetic judgments greatly. Do you work with your tumblr more intuitively or more conceptually? I would say intuitively, within a conceptual framework. My concept is to curate art that I feel is aesthetically amazing and relevant based on my taste and what I have learned from studying art history; and within that concept, the art that I choose to display is almost completely intuitive. Another layer to my work is that I would like my blog (when viewed as a webpage) to function as a museum or gallery wall in both a concrete and abstract sense. I arrange pictures that fit together in gesture, color scheme, size, etc so when an individual views my blog as a webpage, it is as if they are viewing an endless wall, so to speak, at a museum or gallery. As they scroll through the images they are viewing the digital equivalent of a gallery or museum exhibition. In some ways it is much like the effect that Frank Lloyd Wright was going for when he designed the Guggenheim in NYC. Difference being, my gallery space is virtual and the arrangement and quantity of art contained within it is practically infinite and always growing/changing. What did you formerly do in the time, that you spend with your tumblr now? Or is there anything you forgo to have enough time for your tumblr? I started dedicating consistent time to my tumblr after graduating from university so the time that I spend on tumblr now was previously used for researching artists, writing papers, etc. I still like to continue my education and during my studies at university I specialized in contemporary art so subsequently, using tumblr hasn’t taken away anything. In fact, I feel that it has actually bolstered my ability to study contemporary art and artists by following their blogs and curating work on my tumblr page. How old are you? Which gender do you have? What’s your education respectively your profession? I am 29 years old, and male. I have a BA in Art History from the University of Mary Washington and I am a professional arts advocate and artist. — visualekstasis