This message greets you when you enter the URL wearenumbers.com in your web browser. The other day, one of my peeps had posted a photo of a t-shirt on her Facebook profile, saying that she is number 494. That was about 6 weeks ago. I ordered one for Joey and one for me, and we are now number 510 (me) and 511 (her). Twan Verdonck and Shirley Souhoka, the two Dutch artists (number 1 and number 2) behind this project, state on the letter which came with the t-shirts that 'We are Numbers is a protest against inequality and over-consumption - an important positive message for the world! As you know, we do not advertise. So we definigely need YOUR help. Please help us by spreading the word. Your goal: try to reach at least 25 paople. You can do that by posting your photo/ video on your blog, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. too. You can also email your friends/family about the project. Write an article. Show up in the newspapers. Appear on television. Etc. Etc.'
It's not immediately transparent how selling a new physical product to 'everyone around the world' should actually serve as a protest against over-consumption - after all, it's consuming resources. One of their statements, however, says 'We are fashion cynics, because we are beautiful as we are'. Which is something I can relate to. If we all wear the same kind of uniform and don't follow fashion, regional or status dictate, it could contribute to more (perceived) equality (and maybe through this perception to more real equality) - and perhaps even less consumption of natural resources, because most garments last longer than we are prepared to wear them.
At any rate, it's a nice, creative, and connecting art project which is fun to be part of, and I am looking forward to see what else comes out of it once its range will (hopefully) grow beyond the Netherlands and the western world. One idea to achieve this would be to donate t-shirts to people in developing countries who can't afford the €25 plus shipping, but would actually need the shirts much more than we do. I hope the artists consider to set up a process for this where people in developing countries can sign up and be matched with people who are willing to donate a shirt.
PS - We went to great lengths for this photo, because in spite of the fact that I have long arms, I couldn't manage to get both of us including the numbers in a Hipsta shot at the same time (and Hipsta it had to be). Therefore we needed a mirror big enough to show the both of us next to each other - and the only one available in our immediate surroundings is in the elevator. Since the numbers were mirrored, I had to flip the photo (but not the Hipsta frame) in GIMP to make them legible the right way. So there.
Hello,
I recently started the WE ARE NUMBERS art project.
Every t-shirt contains a unique and personal number hand-painted by me. And my goal is to number everyone around the world !
This message greets you when you enter the URL wearenumbers.com in your web browser. The other day, one of my peeps had posted a photo of a t-shirt on her Facebook profile, saying that she is number 494. That was about 6 weeks ago. I ordered one for Joey and one for me, and we are now number 510 (me) and 511 (her). Twan Verdonck and Shirley Souhoka, the two Dutch artists (number 1 and number 2) behind this project, state on the letter which came with the t-shirts that 'We are Numbers is a protest against inequality and over-consumption - an important positive message for the world! As you know, we do not advertise. So we definigely need YOUR help. Please help us by spreading the word. Your goal: try to reach at least 25 paople. You can do that by posting your photo/ video on your blog, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. too. You can also email your friends/family about the project. Write an article. Show up in the newspapers. Appear on television. Etc. Etc.'
It's not immediately transparent how selling a new physical product to 'everyone around the world' should actually serve as a protest against over-consumption - after all, it's consuming resources. One of their statements, however, says 'We are fashion cynics, because we are beautiful as we are'. Which is something I can relate to. If we all wear the same kind of uniform and don't follow fashion, regional or status dictate, it could contribute to more (perceived) equality (and maybe through this perception to more real equality) - and perhaps even less consumption of natural resources, because most garments last longer than we are prepared to wear them.
At any rate, it's a nice, creative, and connecting art project which is fun to be part of, and I am looking forward to see what else comes out of it once its range will (hopefully) grow beyond the Netherlands and the western world. One idea to achieve this would be to donate t-shirts to people in developing countries who can't afford the €25 plus shipping, but would actually need the shirts much more than we do. I hope the artists consider to set up a process for this where people in developing countries can sign up and be matched with people who are willing to donate a shirt.
PS - We went to great lengths for this photo, because in spite of the fact that I have long arms, I couldn't manage to get both of us including the numbers in a Hipsta shot at the same time (and Hipsta it had to be). Therefore we needed a mirror big enough to show the both of us next to each other - and the only one available in our immediate surroundings is in the elevator. Since the numbers were mirrored, I had to flip the photo (but not the Hipsta frame) in GIMP to make them legible the right way. So there.
It's not immediately transparent how selling a new physical product to 'everyone around the world' should actually serve as a protest against over-consumption - after all, it's consuming resources. One of their statements, however, says 'We are fashion cynics, because we are beautiful as we are'. Which is something I can relate to. If we all wear the same kind of uniform and don't follow fashion, regional or status dictate, it could contribute to more (perceived) equality (and maybe through this perception to more real equality) - and perhaps even less consumption of natural resources, because most garments last longer than we are prepared to wear them.
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