In January 2009, the Brooklyn Museum launched 1stfans, the first social media-driven museum membership. The membership included @1stfans, a Twitter art feed run by contemporary artists each month using Twitter as a medium for art. I was honored as their first featured artist.

I proposed using the feed to tweet in Morse code. Whereas telegrams were used for business and important personal communication, tweets generally act as wide broadcasts and rarely contain substantive information per se. In other words, telegrams conveyed news of deaths, deals and diplomacy; tweets convey breakfast habits.

Through tweeting Morse code, I aimed to explore instant communication's new direction by recalling its history. Rather than important issues, I communicated daily minutiae, such as "Brushing my teeth" and "Tired. Need coffee." Such usage of telegraph technology would have been inconceivable in its heyday.

Samuel Morse, in his first telegram, asked, "What hath God wrought?" His invention changed the world, especially with its influence on politics and business. What have Twitter, and other microblogging media, wrought upon the way we connect with others? What doors have they opened in the realm of personal and business relationships, and how have they expanded our sense of identity?

Press/Related:

My essay in NYFA Current on Twitter as an Artistic Medium.
Jamieson, Ruth. Art on Twitter: yes, but is it twart? The Guardian. February 23, 2009.
Miranda, Carolina A. "Tweet Arts". ARTnews. April 2009. [not available online]
Pemberton, Andy. "Cheep talk?" The National Newspaper (United Arab Emirates). March 9, 2009.
Klaver, Marie-José. "Tweets in Morse". NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands). January 31, 2009.
Standage, Tom. "Twitter = Telegram 3.0, sort of". TomStandage.com. January 6, 2009.