13.02.2025 / Perspectives

Author: Andrei Băniceru

This image is intended to tell a story that impacts the perception of the quality of today’s media. In the process of creating this image, I was inspired by the “aesthetics of ugliness.” Although struck by the repulsive image of a toilet paper roll in a vandalized toilet, one can observe the symmetry of the image used as an antithesis. These elements create the context of the story. The story is told through writing on the walls, which is further divided into two categories. The orange writing represents the motto of the work, while the rest of the texts are meant to emphasize the message.

The roll of toilet paper made of newspaper pages – the newspaper symbolising contemporary media – represents the huge amount of low-quality media content that we produce and consume every day. Thus, the lack of relevance is emphasised by the metaphor of the toilet paper roll. The orange texts on the wall are a warning to media content producers that, thrown into a sea of ‘toilet paper,’ any idea – however valuable or innovative – will eventually be drowned in the blue waves of irrelevance. The orange message also seeks to highlight how media content abuses the right to free speech: not everything that can be said is worth saying.

Departments: FRI Media Lab; Society, Crisis, and Resilience Program; Policy Analysis and Outreach Department; Center on Global Affairs and Post Development.

Regions: Global.

Themes:  Civic Engagement; Civil Society; Democracy and Democratization; Freedom of Expression; Human Rights; Media and Journalism.