Life in the matrix #05_12_08, 2021. R14900

Archival digital print on Ilford silk, 260 x 454,45mm. Unique work. Framed in black and museum glass.
 
These works are from the Matrix series and deal with the idea of an ‘Other’ space: Simulated, embodied, dynamic and different to the experienced, physical real. It is presented as constructions and connected spaces, and as fictional. On one hand, matrixial space could be virtual space that we inhabit as human cyborgs; on the other hand it could be any other kind of ‘world’, dream or condition; or it could even be utopian space. On one hand, it could be virtual space that human cyborgs inhabit; on the other hand it could be any other kind of ‘world’, dream or condition; or it could even embody utopian space. In matrix construction, the concept of time is of utmost importance. It relates to both the idealised and the real worlds since the ideal construct is mostly a response to the historical horizon of the real. Matrixes are inspired by the present real, a situation that brings on a type of time-schizophrenia in which the pull to the future is unrelenting. Besides a large grid-like matrix occupying the visual space in Life in the matrix , imagery of everyday flâneurs is found. Their flânerie takes place non-stop against the backdrop of the rhythm of life. The flâneurs stroll the city with handbags, backpacks and parcels, and there are bicycles, cyclists and musicians. Caught up in a matrix of linear biological time, the strollers engage in individual pursuits of daily ritual. Their bodily walking movements indicate physical life, existing in time and place on an existential stage. They are in a matrix of time, but a matrix can also be a twilight zone of memory – good or bad – or a dream or fantasy or a projection of the virtual self in digital space. All of these relate to time.