#TechObsolescence

[laramzp]

Overgrowing Technology (2023/24)

Technology and nature have always been perceived as opposing forces - one synthetic, calculated, and ever-advancing; the other organic, unpredictable, and cyclical. Overgrowing Technology explores this duality, creating a space where nostalgia, digital decay, and organic growth converge.

Using nine iMac G3s I reconstruct a personal and collective history of the internet, memory, and digital landscapes. Arranged in a structured 3x3 grid on a blue industrial shelf, these obsolete machines become both relics and vessels, their screens displaying a fragmented video poem in four acts. The work juxtaposes decayed technology with organic life: chrome planters overflowing with greenery, artificial grass, an aquarium, and luminous star stickers evoke childhood memories and digital dreams.

This piece is, in part, an archive of my personal relationship with the internet - a journey through wonder, obsession, disillusionment, and reconciliation. The videos within the iMacs oscillate between past and present, combining found footage, historical references, and original recordings made with handheld cameras, Coolpix, Super 8 film, and iPhones. The layered visuals are complemented by self-produced music and poetry, shaping a multisensory experience.

At the heart of the installation, a mirrored iMac shatters the grid’s uniformity, its reflective fragments inviting the viewer into a space of self-recognition and digital distortion. The work does not seek to romanticize nostalgia but rather to examine its function - how past technological landscapes linger in contemporary digital culture, how the obsolete is repurposed, and how memory itself is an evolving interface.

With Overgrowing Technology, I aim to cultivate a dialogue between the organic and the artificial, questioning whether technology can ever truly become obsolete, or if it simply transforms - overgrown by nature, absorbed into memory, and rewritten into new narratives.

[projectmanagertemplate]

A Project ELE refers to a critical incident, or series of incidents, that leads to the complete termination of a project. Once this point is reached, it becomes nearly impossible to salvage the project in its current form. Unlike regular setbacks, an ELE suggests a fundamental flaw or irreparable problem that means continuing the project will not be feasible or beneficial.

[jpmellojr]

Windows 10 End of Life Could Bury Landfills in E-Waste

Microsoft aims to boost PC market with AI and Windows 11, but a collateral consequence of those moves could be an early trip to a landfill for many computers. https://tinyurl.com/jcw9b2e4

[laramzp]

forestwalk.mp3

This piece reflects on the death of iTunes, the lost era of downloaded music libraries, and the ritual of walking with an iPod. The digital decay of obsolete formats mirrors the fragmentation of memory itself: files glitch, metadata disappears, songs that once defined entire summers now exist only as ghosts in dead software.