joannametz

[joannametz]

Satellite Collections - 125 swimming pools

Jenny Odell

American artist and writer, Jenny Odell, focuses on details when observing every day things around us and gives us new ways of perceiving those things. Her work Satellite Collections that she worked on from 2009 to 2015 consists in her cutting out collections of the same objects from Google Satellite View, for example "125 Swimming Pools" that is pictured here.

This work firstly reminds me that we should be amazed when we see the universe from the point of view of space. When Google democratized the satellite view with Google Earth in the early 2000, for the first time we could see our planet from above and our connection to it suddenly changed. Jenny Odell quotes Eugene Cernan an astronaut on the Apollo 17, who in 1972 expresses his amazement when looking at the Earth from space and says that it is "almost beyond conception". There were only a few humans that had seen Earth from that point of view then, but now living in 2022 we forget how special it is to see our planet just by looking down at our phones.

What I find interesting is that although the planet Earth is our home and the biggest point in common for all of humanity, these photos are taken from the point of view of machines: satellites, who have a constant eye on everything that is happening on Earth. Thanks to this inhumain point of view, we have knowledge of things happening all over the planet and we can understand humanity better.

But this also means that we have an intermediate between us and the world, which is the machine. I find myself wondering... shouldn't we feel nervous about the thought that machines are constantly watching over us?! And who controls these machines and all the information that they collect? What if one day we won't be able to control them any more and they will use all that they have collected on us over the past 20 years to take over? Ever since technology and computers have been around, sci-fi has become a favorite when it comes to fiction in entertainment, and we constantly question the place and power that we give to artificial intelligence. What if we are loosing what is most dear to us, our planet, because we are too focused on the intermediate, that is technology.

Although technology can collect all the information we need, at what extent is it all useful. We are given access to any information we want, for example these swimming pools. Are we submerged by too much technology and do we loose sight of what is necessary?

Furthermore what is intriguing is that these object are found to be repeated around the earth's surface and become somewhat the traces of humanity. What I find surprising is that there is a ressemblance and unity throughout the world when we look at infrastructures, land-marks, ways of construction or even agriculture. Why does humanity choose to be unified on some levels and others not? And if these are the marks that we see from space, is this what defines us... The way we transform and add things to the surface of our planet?

[joannametz]

Relations

Laurel Nakadate

Laurel Nakadate is an American artist who uses film and photography for her art. Often her work consists in meeting with strangers and exploring the mystery and beauty in these encounters.

In this photographic work, Relations, she made contact with people around the United States who matched to her DNA. She went on a trip for a few months in 2013 and took portraits of these strangers under the night sky with only a flashlight beaming on them to symbolize finding each other in the night with a light. She sometimes would only spend a few hours with each person, and some she didn't even know their names. She chose to meet them under the night sky to express an intimate moment with these people, all that were in someway related to her by their share of DNA. In a certain way these portraits can be read as self portraits.

Ever since the World Wide Web was created in 1993, the possibility of meeting people on internet has grown. When meeting people on internet, the relationship created is not the same as a normal human connection because it is dehumanized by a machine. What I find interesting is although Nakadate is finding people via internet, she seeks a human experience with them and doesn't stop at just meeting on internet. Fundamentally she is meeting people who share the very thing that makes us human, our DNA, but this is thanks to internet and its capacity to find out who we are related to in the world.

We are connected to many people around the world without always knowing, it's invisible, but Nakadate made concrete some of these connections by taking a photograph. Each portrait might be the only trace of what is a unique encounter and relationship. These portraits affirm the existence of each person, the encounter, and connection that has been created and has always existed. The pictures also affirm our existence as we look at it. These may be ephemeral moments, but the photograph is the witness of this human moment.

I find interesting that we desire to connect with strangers. Technology has opened up so many new possibilities in this domain. I wonder if we have become more trusting in humankind, or if we are trusting the internet to lead us to meet the right people. Does internet now have the right to tell us who we should be friends with or who we should meet? Are we loosing our desire to experience the big, real world on our own... To let the uncertainty of physical human encounters be even more beautiful than anything that the internet could ever offer us?

[joannametz]

Pixel Forest

Pipilotti Rist

Pipilotti Rist is a Swiss video and installation artist who uses video, light, color and sound to transform spaces. Her pieces are immersive, poetic, and in creating unique environments she also impacts her public on the inside.

Pixel Forest is an immersive installation with 3,000 LED lights that hang from the ceiling. Each light represents one pixel of a video, so when going through the forest you can see an abstract image moving. These lights are accompanied by soothing, captivating, and inspiring music that helps us dive into this forest experience.

Pixel Forest welcomes us into a breathless world, where we can physically experience something beautiful and be the actors of this piece. We are also invited to experience something emotional, deep, or even spiritual.

Sometimes 2D videos or 3D virtual reality experiences try to captivate us and bring us into a new world... but nothing is better than being able to physically walk through an image and experience it with others. Being in front of a screen or having a VR headset on is the opposite of living a real and shareable experience. Some people are so captivated by the screens we have constantly around us, that they forget that living real tangible and shared journeys with loved ones or even strangers is much more fulfilling.

It is interesting to see what is created in the encounter of a video with the body... depending on whether it is 2D or 3D. An external environment with sound and light impacts interior psychological feelings and reactions.

And what does this immersive installation create between humans? As I walked through the forest and experienced it with another, I felt as though we shared something special, an expericene that I wanted to all of a sudden share with every person I appreciate. And the strangers in that room? I felt like we shared something too. It was as though those lights that were all connected together and formed one image, was us. It represented the harmony that we share all together when we realize that we are a part of something big. You could experience a feeling of human connection when looking at an electrical installation.

What I find interesting about this immersive Pixel Forest is that any one can go in and feel like they are a part of something big and something inspiring. Like they are in the right place, and that they belong in this space. This installation includes anyone, it makes art accessible and enjoyable to everyone.