creating links from new physical objects and visually connecting elements in the process of intuitively installing. taking a step back leads to the revelation moment of being finished, while keeping the tension of new elements that could have been.   one of the parts, the video shown on the green vector display of an oscilloscope provided by a sound file from an suspended iphone, is an excerpt from the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, which deals with the dystopian construction of a metamorphosis of humankind to a being of one and unity of souls, depicted by meta scenes of the real world and as inner demons and outer angels.

almost finished already we together

once you touch the grass

playfully analysing what living in a world of smart devices means to the subjective self, more than 10 years later after their introduction and viral spread. a genderqueer avatar is seen moving in an imaginary absurd surrounding, moving through space organically, but interrupted by glitches in their movement. their clothes are digitally modified and function only to a certain degree of the simulation in covering the body. the perspectives are switching between a selfie perspective, a subjective perspective looking towards the phone in their hands and cameras surrounding. their intention or feeling towards the spoken text is unclear, nonchalantly being themselves in the environment they are put in.   the year is 14, 15, 26 A. I. (After Iphone), the advent of smart devices hailed by the introduction of the very first iphone – I am dependent on this device and feel amputated without. blackout. i am storing my past, my memories in moving images, texts and snippets of my recent years in the cloud, encrypted and unlocked on my phone. i am storing my future on it, of which i know, in events and dates and a network growing closer and apart. the device doubles as my gate to my digital identity. my virtual me, gathering information on behalf of me and acting as an agent of my longing for networked identities and service of the informational age.

year 14 A.I. ⋆ ˚｡⋆  when i upload myself to the cloud,  i don’t feel any pain

“in that moment i swear we were non-fungible” is a reflection on the artificial scarcity of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and the moment of cultural shift in between identity and feelings towards a certain thing. The subject stems from the collective hive mind from the internet, a meme: a communal good filtered through and extracted as a subcultural commodity. Crafted with a knitting machine (the predecessor of machine computing), the textile has two material qualities, light creme organic wool and black acrylic thread, which adds a physical dimensionality and irregularity inside the knit. As a divider inside the exhibition space, the front is the “positive” of the image, while on the backside, the inverted image finds its place. Lit by neon lights, it shimmers through the textile to the back, but also blinds the viewer from the front.

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Maximilian Prag