{"id":2858,"date":"2026-10-01T12:30:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T12:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/?p=2858"},"modified":"2026-10-02T12:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T12:36:28","slug":"2858","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/2026\/10\/01\/2858\/","title":{"rendered":"The Social Media Mirror: Photographing the \u201cEcho Chamber\u201d through Surrealism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Social Media Mirror: Photographing the \u201cEcho Chamber\u201d through Surrealism<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Figure 1. Grete Stern, Sue\u00f1o n\u00ba 41: Llamada (Dream No. 41: Phone Call), 1949. Photomontage.
\nSource: IVAM \u2013 Institut Valencia d’Art Modern.<\/p>\n

Whenever we open social media, we are essentially entering a digital space that gradually shapes what we see, what we like, and even what we believe. The content appearing in our feeds does not always reflect the world as a whole; rather, it is the result of interactions between user habits, the accounts we follow, and digital personalization systems. This phenomenon is associated with the term echo chamber, a situation where an individual predominantly receives information and opinions that align with their own views. Consequently, the person may come to perceive these views as representing the general consensus, while other perspectives rarely come into view.<\/p>\n

This phenomenon lends itself well to interpretation through conceptual photography, as the medium serves not only to record reality but also to convey ideas and critiques. In this concept, a surrealist approach is employed to depict the experience of inhabiting an echo chamber through unrealistic visuals, such as mirrors, smartphone screens, repetition, and distortion.<\/p>\n

What Is Conceptual Photography? Conceptual photography is an approach that places an idea or concept at the core of the work. A photograph is created not merely to look beautiful, but also to convey a specific message to the audience.<\/p>\n

Everyday objects can be imbued with new meaning through visual context. For instance, a smartphone is not merely viewed as a communication tool but can serve as a symbol of dependency on digital information. Similarly, a mirror can function as a symbol of identity, self perception, and one’s perspective on the world. Therefore, conceptual photography is ideally suited for addressing the abstract phenomena of social media and echo chambers. Such concepts can be more easily understood through visual symbols and metaphors.<\/p>\n

Understanding the “Echo Chamber”
\nSimply put, an echo chamber can be defined as a space where our voice is reflected back to us repeatedly. In the context of social media, this “voice” can take the form of specific opinions, information, lifestyles, or viewpoints that keep reappearing as a result of a person interacting with similar content and communities.<\/p>\n

However, echo chambers are not formed solely by algorithms. User behavior also plays a role for instance, when individuals choose to follow accounts that share their views while ignoring differing perspectives. Thus, the digital information environment is shaped by the interplay between personalization systems and user choices (Fig\u00e0 Talamanca & Arfini, 2022).<\/p>\n

The question that then arises is: if social media acts as a mirror, are we truly seeing the world, or merely a reflection of ourselves? This question forms the basis of the “Social Media Mirror” concept.<\/p>\n

Surrealism as a Visual Approach
\nSurrealism can be used to depict things that are difficult to visualize directly, such as thoughts, anxieties, dreams, or psychological experiences. In photography, this approach can be realized through photomontage, distortion, double exposure, the combination of objects, and changes in scale.<\/p>\n

This approach is well-suited to depicting the concept of an echo chamber, as the experience of being \u201ctrapped\u201d within a uniform information space is inherently abstract. Smartphones, for instance, can be rendered on a massive scale or made to encircle a person like a wall. By presenting everyday objects in an unusual light, photography can encourage viewers to re-examine their relationship with social media from a different perspective.<\/p>\n

Reference Artwork: Grete Stern \u2013 Sue\u00f1o n\u00ba 41: Llamada (1949)
\nA relevant work is Sue\u00f1o n\u00ba 41: Llamada (Dream No. 41: Phone Call) by Grete Stern, created in 1949. This piece is part of the Sue\u00f1os (Dreams) series and employs photomontage to create a surreal scenario. In the image, an oversized telephone dominates the female figure. The IVAM categorizes it within a sub-series concerning “dreams of non communication.”<\/p>\n

Stern\u2019s work serves as a valuable reference because it demonstrates how a communication object can be transformed into a psychological symbol. This approach can be applied to the Social Media Mirror concept by substituting the telephone as a symbol of communication with the smartphone, representing both communication and digital information. However, Stern\u2019s work need not be directly replicated. Instead, one can adopt her methods using photomontage, manipulating scale, and employing everyday objects as metaphors to convey a broader concept.<\/p>\n

Purpose and Impact
\nThis work aims to invite viewers to question their relationship with social media. Social media provides access to large amounts of information, but large amounts of information do not always mean broad perspectives. If someone continues to receive content from the same perspective, he or she can feel that the information is a picture of the world as a whole.<\/p>\n

Through surreal visuals, this concept wants to show that an echo chamber is not a real room, but can feel like a space that limits the way a person sees the world. The mirror in the work becomes a symbol that what is seen on social media is sometimes not reality as a whole, but rather a reflection of our own choices and information environment.<\/p>\n

Conclusion
\nConceptual photography offers a space to explore digital phenomena through visual symbols and metaphors. Employing a surrealist approach, the concept of The Social Media Mirror translates the “echo chamber” phenomenon into a visual space that reveals the relationships between individuals, identity, and social media.<\/p>\n

Mirrors, smartphones, repetition, and visual manipulation are used to illustrate how one can feel connected to the world while simultaneously perceiving only a fraction of reality. Ultimately, this work invites the audience to question one thing: when we view the world through a screen, are we truly seeing the world, or merely witnessing a reflection of what we already believe?<\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

Daus, Z. (2024). Socializing the political: Rethinking filter bubbles and social media with Hannah Arendt. Ethics and Information Technology, 26, 20.<\/p>\n

Fig\u00e0 Talamanca, G., & Arfini, S. (2022). Through the Newsfeed Glass: Rethinking Filter Bubbles and Echo Chambers. Philosophy & Technology, 35, 20.<\/p>\n

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2004). Photography and Surrealism. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. [The Metropolitan Museum of Art \u2013 Photography and Surrealism] (https:\/\/www.metmuseum.org\/de\/essays\/photography-and-surrealism?utm_source=chatgpt.co m )<\/p>\n

IVAM \u2013 Institut Valenci\u00e0 d’Art Modern. (1949). Grete Stern: Sue\u00f1o n\u00ba 41: Llamada. [IVAM \u2013 Sue\u00f1o n\u00ba 41: Llamada]
\n(https:\/\/ivam.es\/es\/artwork\/sueo-n-41-llamada\/b7d3b1f3-2b46-46bb-868c-b209e0f56252\/?ut m_source=chatgpt.com )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Social Media Mirror: Photographing the \u201cEcho Chamber\u201d through Surrealism Figure 1. Grete Stern, Sue\u00f1o n\u00ba 41: Llamada (Dream No. 41: Phone Call), 1949. Photomontage. Source: IVAM \u2013 Institut Valencia d’Art Modern. Whenever we open social media, we are essentially entering a digital space that gradually shapes what we see, what we like, and even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":2857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2858"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2860,"href":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2858\/revisions\/2860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/malang\/dkv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}