Do we use social media – or does it use us?

This is a fundamental question that artist Dave Ciccierelli has posed in a series of works produced in real time over the past decade in various media – including social media. He creates what he calls “experiential art” because the audience must interact with it rather than passively contemplate it in order to appreciate it. His signature works include:

Born in 1983 and raised in New Jersey, Cicirelli studied art at Rutgers University, where 60 years ago Alan Capro and other members of the Fluxus movement pioneered art “events” that forced audience members to both participate in the creative process and produce their own. A lot of money because Pathak, who is skeptical of both government and corporate power, is perhaps the only living artist who counts comic book legend Jack Kirby and politician Barry Goldwater among his inspirations.

Cicirelli’s work forces us to think: Why are there so many fakes in a world that places so much value on authenticity and transparency? How do we maintain our individuality when social media algorithms group us into simplistic categories and tribes? And has technology become a substitute for the reality we use to express our true selves?

Watch a short video version of this interview: