DR JULIEREES

Conceptually, these works intended to demonstrate the waxing and waning effects of desire in online dating. The methodological aims were to create a set of text-based works that illuminate the rejection and compulsion aspects experienced by women who have participated in online dating. This line of inquiry expressed through neon lights, references the online dating culture through polarised expressions found in 'mediated texts'.  
 
Description
The work uses seductive advertising tools, emotive language, light, and hyper-gloss materials to convey real mediated texts from two women (Ready4u and Bunnybo) respectively received while dating online. The work is a set of two neon lights displaying the words ‘I don’t feel a spark’ and ‘You are addictive’. The different colour application used in this work is meant to signify the emotional fluctuations associated with online dating through mediated text.
 
Mediated texts sent in online relationships are often more candid than those sent in offline relationships. As a result, dating site users respond both emotionally and physically to mediated text, and it can generate emotions that can seem more real. Therefore, individuals should exercise caution when exchanging text-based communication with online daters; otherwise, they might experience heartbreak along the way. By monumentalising private, surreptitious mediated texts, these works highlight the aspects of rejection and compulsion in online dating. Consequently, the work provides an insight into what an active online dating member may encounter while seeking a partner.
 
Methodologies
The strategies utilised for this project transpired through personal experiences and ethnographic interviews conducted with the research participants. Undertaking participant action research, I drew upon three women’s dating practices through interviews and text-based communication to gather insights into dating narratives, views, and realities. I used in-depth interviewing techniques to discover common mediated text narratives in online dating. The two phrases were chosen for two reasons. Firstly, the texts encapsulated polarised messages. Secondly, on a formal level, both mediated texts contained fifteen letters, which assisted with the overall aesthetic of the work.
 
By using neon lights, the works illuminate the waxing and waning effects of desire as expressed through mediated text and is characterised by a blatant contradiction between the phrases. The phrase ‘You are addictive’ represents an online relationship forming well, whereas ‘I don’t feel a spark’ denotes a breakdown in an online relationship. Therefore, these two phrases exemplify the surging, and plummeting experiences of desire felt through mediated text. Additionally, they allude to society’s widespread desire for instant gratification and the idea of consumerism as a manifestation of desire.