GALLERY 4
FUTURE STATE
AMALIA LINDO AND SAMANTHA BARROW
The foundation of computation and photo-media was to harness electricity as a means of sending information through wires from place to place, described by Walt Whitman as ‘the world itself rolling through the air’. The work presented in Future State critically considers our engagement with accelerated technology through an acute awareness to its current function in economic, political, social and individual structures. As computational power becomes defined by algorithmic functionality and efficiency, cultural space becomes increasingly reorganised by monetised data harvesting. Future State reiterates the infrastructure of computation as evolving through human design—a connection that was realised to have become lost amid the apocalyptic narratives that frame our understanding of technological advancements such as artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies and surveillance capitalism. Through this acknowledgement, Future State visualises the effect of these systems of technological design on the everyday existence of all people and asks the question: do we want to be remembered or forgotten by these systems that have come to shape our representation in both the physical and digital world?
