Decadent Romance Selfies emerged as a critique on the production of romance though idyllic images of “the couple”, the solipsism of the selfie stick as a constant narration of daily life produced by and for social media, and the decay of modern constructions and relations (architecture of a building vs. architecture of a love affair). The seemingly “romantic” and perfectly constructed images in the first half of each compositional diptych then reveals themselves in their full settings: a building in full decay, increasing by the day. We play with what we think we are seeing in any given image without knowing the absurdity of what is being left out; a commentary on hyper-edited mediation of relational realities.

Photo performance by Dani d’Emilia & Daniel Chávez
Duration: 1.5 hours
Materials: Work clothes, abandoned building, camera on tripod, iphone + selfie stick.

Procedure: Put on work clothes. Decide the angle of the shot with the camera on the tripod. First person is already set up with iphone on selfie stick and camera function. Communicate with the first person to set the frame of the shot. Set the timer on the camera. Insert self into shot. When second person arrives, take selfie as the automatic shot goes off. Change locations and repeat.

This work was part of our residency at Roundabout.lx, Lisbon 2015