4 minute read
ARTF1053 Fine Arts Studio: Space, Time & Beyond
21330108
As infinitely unique as a fingerprint and as accountable as a signature, an ‘iograph’ or ‘input/output graph’, represents acts of ‘Modern Human Labour’.
This manuscript of metadata documents the self-portraiture and human/digital interfacing of 30 different users across 45 iographs, spanning a total of 144 hours. They are each signed by the user’s ‘digital self’ – a username or string of characters often representing them in digital communications.
By linking a simple draw function to a user’s mouse or trackpad, we can visualise how an individual operates webpages, social media, videogames and creative applications. These graphs are timestamped with the date, time, and length, along with links to various Unique Identifiers (UID) of the machine they were created on and thus, the user. These graphs depict a single layer of ‘residual data’ – data that was originally thought of as useless, discarded data created by our everyday computer interactions. This data has since given rise to a trillion-dollar industry revolving around digital privacy and scrutiny – Surveillance Capitalism.
Currently, technology companies harvest and feed billions upon billions of gigabytes of similar user data into machine-learning algorithms, which build ‘predictive models’ – mapping out our actions, behaviours and motions.
They do this to sell our ‘Human Futures’ to third-parties; whose biggest winners are the highest bidders. These third-party companies are, in fact, the customers, while the individual user is the product. In this way, ‘Big Tech’ has generated unprecedented wealth, with Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon all holding trillion-dollar valuations.
We are heading into an age of a possible ‘Metaverse’ or Internet of Things (IoT). Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and Non-Fungible Tokens are ways we could all soon be transacting information and services. Now is the time to discuss ways in which emerging modern digital technologies can benefit us, the end user.
Image: 21330108. Metadata Manuscript. 2021. Iographs in black ink on plotter paper. 84 cm x 2000 cm.
KITA HEALY
‘Apart’
The idea of automation sparked thought of subconsciously run models in society, where at the surface, these machines were not as prominent although have major implications on contemporary life. This led me down the path of the automation of algorithms. Algorithms have been made to abuse the consumers of social media technology, making their time and attention turn to a product for monetisation and manipulation. The audience think that they are the ones using the platform for entertainment when their content is based off of their likes, interests and even what their eyes are drawn to, especially in reference to Instagram’s recent policies. This structured content creates subgroups of people, as the content is constructed by you, for you and to you. This becomes a vicious cycle where a perpetuation of self-degradation is created, where the opposing opinions, alternate content and challenge is omitted. This stimulated questions like how can people build on themselves? How can they learn? How can they change?
We as a society have never been placed in such an instance where we have just been fed ourselves, what would this look like in 10, 20 or 30 years? This is what excited the inspiration for the body of focus in the final project.
Themes of isolation, mirrors and atmospheric segregation were constructed into an animation. Each frame was drawn to communicate this disjointed threat that is posed onto society. Every scene is a different world, exposing the nature of this relationship between algorithms and people.
Image: Kita Healy. Apart. 2021. Digital animation, 1:02.
ARTF1053 Space, Time and Beyond Unit Coordinator: Dr Vladimir Todorovic Teaching Staff: Dr Vladimir Todorovic, Samuel Beilby and Annie Huang
TRINITY ROSE SYMONDS
‘Yacult’
This series was inspired by consumer culture and how companies disguise products in bright colours and fake promises of ‘health’ when the reality is often vastly different. This project started when I noticed the amount of single use plastic my household was using. I chose the brand Yakult as the company advertises its products as ‘the healthy family drink’, which has been disproven due to high amounts of sugar and the amount of non-recyclable plastic waste produced. The comic style references the bright colours and cartoon figures brands use on packaging to make products more appealing to buyers. The images allude to the future of what we consume and the effects this will have on future generations. I have always enjoyed silent comics that allow the reader to create their own narrative with what is given. The work was heavily inspired by one of my favourite comics ‘The longest day of the future’ illustrated by Lucas Varela.
Image: Trinity-Rose Symonds. Yacult. 2021. Digital prints. Dimensions variable.
HISTORY OF ART
