As our means for communication become more and more visual, the need for creating, assimilating or
holding up to a visual identity seems to grow exponentially. Among many others, the social media
arguably provided the most attractive mirror to the modern Narcissi: a mirror that can be altered (by
Narcissus) to show what the reflected person wants. We have reached a time where the “vain youth”
can hold the reflecting pool in his hands and control his reflection, despite the fact that the result of
his mythos is unaffected.
Beetroot created Narcissus – The First Selfie after the invitation of the Imago Mundi (Image of the
World) global cultural project that aspires to foster openness, new horizons and the coexistence of
expressive diversity. The collection, hosted by the Fondazione Benetton, is up to now comprising of
approximately 2000 works of art collected since 2008 by Luciano Benetton and has no commercial
aspirations and aspires to unite the diversities of the world in the name of a common artistic
experience.
Beetroot: Greek design group