News from the digital culture website 1215.Today about its latest commissioned artwork. HistoLyrical released on http://1215today.com/histolyrical-artwork/ today (7 June at 12-noon). The site has an interview with the artists, Ben Peppiatt and Stephanie Bickford-Smith, about their online work that developed from asking young people “is the hysteria of social media compromising freedom of thought?” HistoLyrical explores how social media influences people’s thought processes through subliminal messages.

The online experience is described as taking viewers ‘on a very different kind of train journey. Gazing out of a train window and lulled by a trance-enducing soundtrack, our thoughts are interrupted, hijacked by the random thoughts and ruminations of others by a stream of words layered over our view. We are given the choice to abandon ourselves to these random musings or take control and banish them with a click of a button.’ The artists feel that “Social media sites are super efficient platforms that aid connectivity and information exposure. Increasingly they are becoming our gateway to the internet. However these sites are designed for consumption rather than contemplation, with HistoLyrical we are interested in questioning the impact this has upon our ability to think and process information coherently and what a more contemplative solution inspired by offline behaviours could look like.”

HistoLyrical online experience is the fourth (out of five) commission by 1215.Today. The website at its launch commissioned a film, created by Lincoln School of Film & Media (LSFM), The Empty Throne. It was directed by award-winning filmmaker Philip Stevens (2010 alumnus & LSFM lecturer) at Urban Apache Films and written by Laura Turner.

1215.Today explores the relevance of the Magna Carta today, specifically for young people (aged 14-24), and it is ‘a virtual house of culture to explore liberty, freedom & rights through art and technology’. The project, curated by CultureShock Media, is led by the University of Lincoln School of Film & Media and funded through the Arts Council England Exceptional Award. Read more about this story from PR Officer Laura Jones at the University of Lincoln Press & Media.