My first art installation
I've always been a huge art enthusiast, even as a kid. You could give me a blank page of paper and some pencils, and I would go to work. Diving into my own little world of shapes and colors. My happy place.
When my mom put my drawings on our fridge, I always felt special and proud. The world, or in our case, my mom's friends when they came over for coffee or my dad's working buddies when they had their Friday night card games, saw my art. And in my head, they became inspired. It was okay if they liked my work. And it was okay if they didn't. The priority was to create something that made people think!
And now, when the opportunity presented itself that I could show my digital art in a prestigious online gallery, my natural response was: YES, YES, YES! Like when I was a child, I wanted to create something unique and memorable for my first installation. Something that doesn't solely look pretty but pushes the viewer into thinking mode. But where to start?
Did you ever have to write an opinion essay in school, and this one teacher told you to write about something you know about, and you're invested in? I immediately remembered this and adapted it: Create something you know and care about.
Lately, I care a lot about our future. Not in the "where will I live, when I am old," but in a "where is this society heading" kind of way. Are we heading towards utopia or dystopia? That's a question that humanity has always asked itself. Take George Orwell's "1984" or "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury—or film and TV productions like "Ghost in the Shell" and "Altered Carbonate". In their particular way, they answered the question: How will we use the inventions of current and future times? And how will this will influence our interactions with each other? More often than not, their future images came later reality.
So what will our future hold? With artificial intelligence on the threshold, new opportunities present themselves. It's not a question of if but how we utilize them. How do we choose to use AI? Will we ensure that it is developed and used in ways that are beneficial for society as a whole? Or will it divide our society further by only supporting the rich and powerful? Will digitalization help us stay connected, or will we lose touch with our identity and communities? I don't know the answers to all of those questions. But I know that it is crucial to ask them.
My first collection at xcircle is my perception of a possible future. In 'my' future, urbanity and artificial intelligence will be symbiotic and depend highly on each other. At the same time, digitalization and AI harm personal connections. People would connect at home through their devices instead of getting together. Sounds ominous? Well, think about the image of two persons sitting next to each other and communicating via text. It doesn't sound too farfetched.
I imagined how I would feel in such a world. I always admired the human form of interconnectivity. Touch, talk, and experience in person. What if it's all replaced by codes, screens, and digital touchpoints? I probably would fit in, with "being a glitch of an AI" and all. But wouldn't we give up essential parts of our humanity if all connections were solely digital?
For this collection, I put myself in the center of my art. To enable these thoughts within myself and simultaneously act as a placeholder for the viewer. How would you feel in tomorrow's world? Would you adjust quickly, or would you feel powerless and lost? Feel free to put yourself in my shoes. Imagine standing in a city of tomorrow. How would you feel? Would you feel lonely? Alienated? What would you do? And most importantly, to whom would you go?