MARYNA.TV
MARYNA.TV, 2021
BWA Zielona Góra
23.04-16.05.2021
Curator: Anna Mituś
The MARYNA.TV project began during the era of lockdown and is inspired by online phenomena; “heroes” who have gained widespread online recognition and popular social media formats. Directly referring to the actions of influencers and using mechanisms of commercial narratives, the artist transfers them to the field of art. The ending “TV” is used consciously here, an ironic juxtaposition of a medium proclaimed to be “dead” according to the latest trends among Internet users.
The beginning was a series of short, funny videos about art (not exclusively), modeled after classic YouTube productions. Fashion, sports, and fitness, as well as art, are all areas linked by the specific status that their protagonists achieve in the collective imagination: athletes, trendsetters, artist-genius, “it-girls”, and influencers – objects of social and cultural imitation. However, as with the economics of social communication, nothing here is what it claims to be.
Television branding is just the tip of the iceberg, social media is not just about virtual content. Vloggers and bloggers monetize their popularity in the physical world by selling posts and product placement, as well as creating offers for so-called merchandise: clothing, cosmetics, granola bars, or books emblazoned with their names. These are indispensable conditions for existence in the networked world, whose main principle has long been not communication, but entertainment.
Tomaszewska’s project is based on this very dimension of the Internet – popularity and easy communication. Under the MARYNA.TV brand, leggings, flip-flops, and nail polish were created. A photo shoot, look book, and a series of stickers and filters using AR were created for marketing, all in an attempt to confront the online pandemic culture through a multi-dimensional narrative.
The project was presented in BWA Zielona Góra and was designed specifically for taking pics for Instagram, to be perfectly instafriendly. This is a very important aspect of design and marketing today, already integral at the planning stage of new venues: bars, restaurants, or stores, it takes into account that images for social media will be created with the establishment as the backdrop. This time the methodology is applied to the gallery.