Twitter art, Irkafirka and tweet #3125

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Art, an octopus and social media

Strange things happen in social media. Last night was stranger than normal.

Yesterday morning I was using Twitter to complain about doing Excel spreadsheets at work. I felt, I said, like #afishoutofwater – or, I then wrote, exercising a Spanish idiom, ‘Como un pulpo en un garaje.’ – which translates into English as ‘Like an octopus in the garage.’

Pulpo tweet

Less than 12 hours later a website called Irkafirka published this:

@petermoore artwork on irkafirka

Oddly, I first saw the illustration moments after getting home from El Camino Spanish bar in King’s Cross. And waking up this morning I imagined that I’d probably had a little too much sangria – but, after checking, it’s quite real.

It all stems from an idea that Irkafirka’s founders have had to illustrate a random selection of tweets then publish them as quickly as possible. On their website, they write:

The Rules:

1. Irkafirka is as fresh as possible. We aim to post illustrations within 24 hours of the tweet that inspired them.

2. We are not aquainted with our chosen tweeters. Tweets are chosen by a random process of dipping in and out of the massive data deluge that Twitter has become.

3. Suggestions are warmly welcomed but almost certainly ignored. Which isn’t to say that we don’t have a price. You want a commission, you’ve got to pony up. Call it becoming a patron of the arts.

4. We aim to post illustrations daily, but we have jobs, family and cinema tickets, all of which have to take priority from time to time.

5. If we stop enjoying it, we’ll stop.

6. We can break any of the rules except 5.

There are more illustrations on their website. I think it’s a wonderful idea that will work brilliantly over time – just so long as they can keep it going.

I’m after a copy of my tweet #3125 to hang on the wall, and when I asked if I could buy the artwork they responded with:

Irkafirka Tweet

Nothing more for me to say to irkafirka then, but THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND I BLOODY LOVE IT.

—

Image from Flickr

Irkafirka are @chrisbell @Pockless on Twitter

23 thoughts

  1. i should have known you’d be one of the first to say something weird enough to warrant a picture Peter Moore. it’s COOL though. i want a copy too.

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