On The Water
Photo-sculpture, 2018
The work On The Water explores how we deal with the endless stream of news about human tragedies in the digital age. We encounter an image of a tragedy – a refugee boat in the Mediterranean, for example – and after a short moment of affectedness, we swipe away the image to make way for new inputs. The piece takes such images collected online and recreates the gestures of conscious disregard – the gesture of swiping the image to continue the flow of information: one image is substituted by the next one in a constant stream that transforms attention into disaffection. This process allows us to create a distance between ourselves and the pain of others, by turning the reality of suffering into a constant smudge of images that robs them of any meaning or emotional weight. This work fits into the broader framework I have been exploring in my recent projects, which focuses on the relationship between gestures we make on our personal devices and the perception we form of the world around us.
Digital smudge on found footage images, print on PVC / 577x90cm
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program partner of FOTO WIEN / photo by Philipp Pess
projectcell with David Osthoff, 2018 | photo:Susanne Reiterer
Artist Residency Oslip, Cselleymühle 2018 | photo: Imre Tolnay