CHICAGO — In an ideal social media universe, Facebook users would feel comfortable enough to openly tell all of their friends whether or not they’re organ donors, what they’re up to this weekend, and if they are in a relationship, single, or looking. There would be no Facebook stalkers or strange friend requests. Everything really would be about trust. Social networks are not utopic spaces, however; they are digital microcosms of our real world, albeit with the “protection” of a screen. In the exhibition Like. Share. Follow.at Columbia College’s Hokin Gallery, Chicago artists Kevin Serna, James T. Green, Ethan Aaro Jones, Evan Baden, and Josh Billions explore the impact of instant communication via socially networked spaces on our lives today.

James T. Green’s “#Character” from his series BetaEyes (2012) occupies an entire white wall of the spacious gallery. The artist uses Twitter tool Twitpipe to search for three key terms: “black people,” “black guys,” and “black girls.” Green doesn’t define a distance from the current location, so viewers see every tweet on the web regardless of third-party clients or location.

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