The Bayeux Crapestry: Three commissions an installation about lockdown’s biggest moments
Honestly, corporations will use anything.
Three, the UK mobile network, was in my emails today with this press release:
Three has identified the top mentioned moments from lockdown based on the UK’s social media mentions from March to July (number of mentions in millions):
Virtual Events & Livestreams: 4,006m
Black Lives Matter — 500m
Boardgames — 285m
Home Schooling — 244m
Daisy May Cooper & The Sea Captain — 199m
While some of the most talked about people and memes that kept us connecting were:
Captain Tom Moore — 57m
TikTok: Blinding Lights Challenge — 56m
The Big Lasagne — 44m
Connell’s Chain — 22m
Tiger King — 19m
It’s a fun idea, I guess. Certainly, it caught my interest in the soup of literal shit I get sent every day. But it does remind me of just how vulture-like corporations are. The human experience is just grist to their commercial imperatives; corporations must insert themselves in the middle of any genuine human connection. And thus, Three made what I shall call the Bayeaux Crapestry.
I like the artwork and I like that Three has paid an illustrator to make it. Creative people need to eat:
Illustrated by London based artist Emmy Lupin, How We Scrolled: Lockdown 2020 is an undulating, 25-metre long celebration of the connections we have made and the many unique moments, memes and heroes who have helped us to cope, kept us distracted, entertained and generally brought us together in recent months.
Creator Emmy Lupin, said, “Lockdown has seen a rollercoaster of trending moments, playful antidotes to the global crisis that has enveloped us. In years gone by, woven tapestries have been created to commemorate key events, this piece is intended as a modern take on that — a tapestry for a connected world.
“From Joe Wicks to Joe Exotic, Connell’s Chain to Captain Tom, House Party to Animal Crossing, the Boris Johnson Peri-ometer to Daisy May Cooper and the Sea Captain, and TikTok dances alongside Stanley Tucci’s cocktails — there are almost 70 moments represented — it showcases a moment in history and some of the many things that we will never forget.”
I hope Emmy Lupin gets lots more work from this. And, you know, I guess that Three sells some more phone contracts or whatever.
Oh yeah, here’s a fun ‘exclusive’ quote that Three sent me:
Elaine Carey, Chief Commercial Officer at Three, said, “We’re delighted to unveil our lockdown modern-day tapestry today, marking a monumental moment in our history. 2020 has been a challenging year so far but also one that has brought people closer together and made connections in a way we had never envisaged before. We want those important connections to keep happening, so we’re giving our customers ‘six-months half price’ on us.”
Thank god for phone contracts, yeah?
