Fragile Freedom

Project

Uncloud 2023

Location

Pieter Ban Institution

Year

2023

Uncloud - Project proposal [residency]-3.png

Even though throughout time, this building has been devoted to different functions, it seems one thing has escaped the ephemeral nature of history being so closely tied to a place :

CAPTIVITY.

Captivity of the mind, captivity of the body, captivity of the spirit.

In a way, this space has always been a reminder of how fragile freedom is.

What becomes of a space can be uncertain, it certainly has been the case for the Pieter Baan Centre… a powerful metaphor to our planet as the host to our physical entities and our relentless and uncontrollable escapism into the digital world.

Uncloud - Project proposal [residency]-5.png

The idea of hiding behind a screen is an interesting concept as in a way it facilitates our freedom of self-expression. I became increasingly fascinated by how our identities blur, change and translate into our digital entities. How do we see our physical selves reflected in the digital world?

We hide behind rows of pixels.

We take comfort in this freedom of being unknown and unseen.

BUT

Uncloud - Project proposal [residency]-12.png

Uncloud - Project proposal [residency].jpg

We are all trading our valuable personal information, localization and personality on a daily basis in order to have the comfort of the digital world leading our lives. And the price we pay is rather invisible just yet.

So completely immersed in the illusion of freedom, we forget that we become more and more captive. The freedom of expression is traded for personal information. We think we can watch the world unanimously while we are being constantly surveilled so that governments, companies and brands can use us to their benefit.

Our freedom is fragile.

Uncloud - Project proposal [residency]-6.png

Fragile freedom is posing an important question about this duality between the illusion of freedom when we hide behind our digital entities and the subsequent loss of privacy.

This is a two-sided experience

PART I

First, we step inside a long, dark tunnel where immersive lights and sound lead our way. The sound is hard to distinguish at first. As we get closer to the end of the tunnel, we realise it is the noise of our generation: an unstoppable flow of content spam, sounds of people laughing, talking, chunks of music, debates, opinions.

Everything and anything.

Uncloud - Project proposal [residency]-7.png

At the end of the tunnel, there is a pixelated mirror. We stare into ourselves and wonder what our relationship to this social media black hole is. Without the visual hook, the sounds of tiktok culture are screaming at us, and here… we have no other choice but listen to it.

This is who we are.

Uncloud - Project proposal [residency]-8.png

Uncloud - Project proposal [residency]-9.png

In “Beyond good and evil” Nietzsche said: “When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you”.

A moment of reflection on our inner darkness and the masks we are trying to hide behind form society.

I am, you are, we are all a bi-product of the physicaldigital transition we are slowly losing control of.

PART II

Once you exit from the tunnel, you find yourself in the open space, rejoined with other visitors. You are now on the other side of the experience, the other side of the pixelated mirror.

You suddenly realize that the mirror was transparent from the other side and wonder: “Have I`ve been watched all this time?”.

Uncloud - Project proposal [residency]-10.png

The installation is raising questions about our identities, about the interplay between watching and being watched. In many ways it’s a social study, where we can see ourselves in these two opposite sides of the “screen” in a physical way, through a linear journey.

Observe, be observed and then observe again.

Self-reflection and meta-reflection. Self-awareness and contextual-awareness.

Uncloud - Project proposal [residency] copy 2.png

BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK BACK