@ HFBK Graduate Show, Hamburg, 2024


The multimedia graduation sculpture Holy Grail acts as a vessel for the video work GRWM to Graduate: From Palette to Platform! Storytime + Favourites 2007-2024, which is both an homage and an analysis of the culture and stories of the YouTube beauty community that grew in importance online between 2006 and 2020.

The mutated make-up table outlines a hectic scene. A selection of the most viral make-up products between 2007 and 2024 has been left behind, twelve mobile ring lights dazzle and illuminate, twenty drawers from the iconic IKEA Alex wardrobe offer space for the maximalist make-up collection that has not been sorted out since 2007.



In the lecture-performance video, Insa/Derk guides viewers through an authentic make-up routine from 2016 and tells them about the results of the master's thesis “From Palette to Platform - Exploring Protocols of the YouTube Beauty Community through the Filter of James Charles Casting Call Videos”, based on 'Get Ready With Me' formats.









In their written Master's thesis, Insa/Derk analyzed 44 #JamesCharlesCastingCall videos by reading through the automatically generated subtitles. In a 5-minute format, the participants shared their diverse relationships with make-up and how they got into the YouTube beauty community.