The unprecedented convergence of the digital and real in our times leaves us with a disconcerting uncertainty. Its menacing disorientation is pervasive. Our constant addiction to screens has flattened our perception of space; it has irrevocably altered our visual experience. In our society, screens...
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The unprecedented convergence of the digital and real in our times leaves us with a disconcerting uncertainty. Its menacing disorientation is pervasive. Our constant addiction to screens has flattened our perception of space; it has irrevocably altered our visual experience. In our society, screens have become magical tools used by ‘augurers and haruspices’ or those who read omens in the stars, flights of birds and the entrails of animals, uncovering guilt and foreseeing the future. Through screens, we navigate the netherworld of imaginations. They have become our magic mirrors; we have formed a Faustian pact with the digital world.
The digitization of things, data, and feelings has profoundly shifted the accepted methods of perceiving, behaving, and being. Shall digitalized representations of physical items such as artwork, pictures, garments… make them extinct? Will objects ultimately abandon their tangible existence to become two-dimensional in the virtual realm? Are we going to define ourselves more with what we consume or manufacture in the digital domain? Might our internet alter egos overshadow our real bodies? To tackle these queries, we must first look into the importance of objects in our lives and how they define who we are.
Therefore, in this digital age of transience, I beckon sculptors to mull over the place of objects. Do they regard it as a revolutionary bifurcation, or would they rather cling to the traditions of tangible artifacts and their creation's vital involvement in keeping memories alive and evoking romanticized nostalgia? I hope that this exploration can provide insight into why we are so attached to the past through material possession and how this shapes our identities.
- Premjish Achari
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