OZYMANDIAS

FOLDER/DIGITAL INSTALLATION, RESEARCH ︎ 2021 ︎ CURATION, EDITING, IDENTITY, EXHIBITION DESIGN. ︎ Design research, installation design, concept development, identity, video and photo editing, writing.︎ Individual research project.

The work investigates the following macro-areas: the relationship between human-environment, technological development and the notion of adaptation in the context of the Anthropocene.
    Anthropocene defines: “The Earth's most recent geologic time period as being human-influenced and anthropogenic, presenting how many Earth system processes are now altered by humans. –  Eugene Stormer and Paul Crutzen  (2000).

In the data technology era, data stratification produced by humans through the everyday use of technology is having an impact on our world, adding to today’s footprint. We, as humans, should adapt to this new era we navigate in, which has implications not only on our physical living but on our digital one as well. In addition to this condition, big companies such as Google (through tools like Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Engine) are using their software to appropriate the planet on a new level. The inquiry led then to a reflection on the technologies and politics that lay behind the representation of our digital globe.

The videos include HTLMS files that were used to visualise data stratification.
Furthermore, the poem included in the content is called Ozymandias, which was written by Percey Bysshe Shelley in 1818. This piece aims at setting the tone and the mood of the digital installation. It discusses the transience of power, and how nature will overcome humanity. It starts off with the description of a traveller from an antique land who finds a wrecked statue in the desert. Some experts say that Shelley was probably inspired by the Egyptian statue of Ramses the Second when writing the sonnet. The statue represents the decline of humanity: humans are seen as unkind rulers who have abused their power. This piece of solemn and dreamlike sonnet is full of power and it constituted an important tool to set the tone of the project.

Because of this, the research led to document, edit, crop, deconstruct, alter and study the images offered by Google. Through working with semiotics, it was compelling to analyse their meaning.  The most interesting discovery was understanding how much and how far human presence has propagated, specifically through the implementation of digital technologies.

Inside the folder are four other folders respectively containing the welcome text; a .PNG file with a picture or poster of the written poem; a folder containing an .MP3 file of the written poem and an experimental song by Naomi Chan; the fourth folder contains some open-source screenshots of the Earth captured using Google softwares; lastly is the videos folder, which contains different kind of content: a time-lapse recorded using Google Earth and a video using Google Street View. Alongside this last one, is an intense sound as a background; two experimental videos; two videos overlaying the flag pattern, while the very last video represents the little Google Maps falling man. This last one conceptualises the fall of mankind facing nature, as well as the littleness of our species compared to its power. The statue of decaying and destroyed Ramssei The II appears in one video. This was included as it was a huge inspiration for Percey Bysshe Shelley when writing the poem. Again, also this figure represents implicitly the fall of humanity.

The lense used to look into the research refers to the theory of existentialism–the well known philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and focuses on the experience of thinking, feeling, and acting. Furthermore on a theoretical level again, the book The Age of the Earthquakes by Douglas Coupland, Hans Ulrich Obrist e Shumon Basar constituted the main catalyst to the research, which aims at discussing data and its impact on the planet, consequently questioning the way we live and exist in the world today. 

The project should be contemplated as a digital interactive experience, becoming a collection of different kinds of presences (images, videos, soundscapes, text…). The actual format is based on interactivity, intertextuality and non-linearity: the possibilities when going through the content are endless for the viewer, who can decide on the narrative. They are also able to modify, delete or add to the already produced content. The subverted aesthetics of the computer desktop, served well as the space for hosting this experience.

The research considered as well the flag as a tool to colonise, using it as a typical depiction of conquering–in any case, this representation remained just an experiment, thus setting the tone of the project–and using it as a pattern as well–, rather than becoming an actual visual element.

The backdrop image of the digital experience is a white space. Its purpose is to help concentrating when interacting with multimedia content.The three different suggested routes are aimed at helping to navigate the content. The idea derives from the videogames culture and their narrative, which often makes use of memory cards, in order to give information on certain paths. Here is the link to download the opensource digital installation. Feel free to add to the project. ︎ ︎ DRIVE.