“The world and the brain are related to each other like process and narrative: the process creates the narrative and the narrative creates the process (the brain makes the world and the world makes the brain).” Flusser, Vilém and Erik Eisel (Translator). On the End of History. 1991.
‘Deep Solitude’ considers the spaces between our bodies, the environment and the everyday technologies that mediate these organic systems. The work in this exhibition is a product of a two-month residency (July-August 2014) at the Arteles Creative Centre in Hämeenkyrö, regional Finland. During this time I engaged in research concerning the less tangible elements of New Media, following my participation in the Cloud and Molecular Aesthetics – The Third International Conference on Transdisciplinary Imaging at the Intersections of Art, Science and Cultureconference in Istanbul (June 2014).
While popular representations of contemporary technology see an isolated ‘clean’ aesthetic, divorced from the organic, behind the ‘fetishized object of the iPad for example, microscopic dust from dead skin cells of the factory worker are trapped inside’ (‘Smog’ – J. Parikka 2014). Indeed our contemporary environment ensures it is never fully possible to remove our bodies from technology, or technology from our bodies. This exhibition playfully explores these themes in the following ways: Wall/Solus: two large-scale landscape photographs (wall installation) Floor/Absence: two to-scale nude figures lie face down within a field of grass. Object/Mossys: a series of small soft sculptures created with a custom-printed moss design. Designed to be interactive, when pressed/hugged, these sculptures emit a unique recorded sigh from the artist.
This work was presented at Archive Space, Newtown, between May and June 2015.
