Why did I choose to have a djamo dot weebly dot com and not a djamo dot com?
Because many people told me that in order to be seen as a serious artist you must have a .com ("if you don't have a real website, a .com, you don't exist" - statement from an artist and a friend). I want to challenge this. I don't want to be forced to have a .com by a crooked and wrongfully-crafted system of values.
I don't want to package myself more than I can. Nor do I wish to show less of me. I prefer the simplicity of this website-maker, that I can use easily.
In 2012 I was close to having a .com. Someone constructed for me half of a website. It looked pretty good. But then I started thinking why I wanted to have a one of a kind .com. It was rather difficult to upload new works. Back then I was not so well acquainted with website building as I am today. Normally, I would not have made my life harder for myself. I didn't care about façades. I would have done it for others (curators/collectors/institutions). Thus, this was not an honest desire. I decided to stop working on it and I focused on this platform.
How does it feel to have a weebly dot com after having it for over 5 years?
Most people that approached me in regards to this topic liked it, as did some institutions - that appreciated the upper paragraph. I encouraged around 20 artist friends and acquaintances to not be ashamed of having a something dot com instead of a simple dot com.
A few young people (under 25 years old) called my page amateurish - just for lacking the dot com after the five letters of my surname. They really liked the way in which the website was built, but having a dot weebly made them feel that they were facing a sort of Adibas, Niki or FUMA. The fact that some think that if I would be "paying 50 euro/dollars extra would validate the authenticity" of my work (exact extract of a message that I received from a young, talented and ambitious Asian artist) made me even more interested in the topic. Now I am determined to keep on having a dot something dot com just for the social experiment behind it all - focusing on the way in which we perceive quality and validation in the online environment.
Why did I choose to have a djamo dot weebly dot com and not a djamo dot com?
Because many people told me that in order to be seen as a serious artist you must have a .com ("if you don't have a real website, a .com, you don't exist" - statement from an artist and a friend). I want to challenge this. I don't want to be forced to have a .com by a crooked and wrongfully-crafted system of values.
I don't want to package myself more than I can. Nor do I wish to show less of me. I prefer the simplicity of this website-maker, that I can use easily.
In 2012 I was close to having a .com. Someone constructed for me half of a website. It looked pretty good. But then I started thinking why I wanted to have a one of a kind .com. It was rather difficult to upload new works. Back then I was not so well acquainted with website building as I am today. Normally, I would not have made my life harder for myself. I didn't care about façades. I would have done it for others (curators/collectors/institutions). Thus, this was not an honest desire. I decided to stop working on it and I focused on this platform.
How does it feel to have a weebly dot com after having it for over 5 years?
Most people that approached me in regards to this topic liked it, as did some institutions - that appreciated the upper paragraph. I encouraged around 20 artist friends and acquaintances to not be ashamed of having a something dot com instead of a simple dot com.
A few young people (under 25 years old) called my page amateurish - just for lacking the dot com after the five letters of my surname. They really liked the way in which the website was built, but having a dot weebly made them feel that they were facing a sort of Adibas, Niki or FUMA. The fact that some think that if I would be "paying 50 euro/dollars extra would validate the authenticity" of my work (exact extract of a message that I received from a young, talented and ambitious Asian artist) made me even more interested in the topic. Now I am determined to keep on having a dot something dot com just for the social experiment behind it all - focusing on the way in which we perceive quality and validation in the online environment.
