No place, 2021. R28000

Collage, mixed media, archival digital print, AP. Edition of 5 + AP. White box frame. 
 
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. Sometimes a constructed matrix seems so real that it becomes intertwined with the physical real. It is constituted by relationships, wishes, emotions and connections; it is volatile and can change from moment to moment. New matrixes are constantly birthed since human beings continue to create these within the physical boundaries of time.
Although arguably there are ‘many worlds’, in this body of work the focus is on ‘two’ worlds, a physical real and another constructed or manufactured real, which I call ‘matrix’. Utopia, in essence, is also a fictional matrix, an imagined design in space, time and place. In the introduction to Ligeia Gallagher's More's Utopia and Its Critics (1964) a useful definition of utopia is provided, namely "any place, state or situation of ideal perfection, any visionary scheme or system for an ideally perfect social order." The concept originated with Sir Thomas More in his 1516 publication De optimo reipublicae statu deque nova insula utopia (Transl. Concerning the highest state of the republic and the new island Utopia, generally shortened to Utopia ). More derived the term from the Greek, meaning 'no place' or 'land of nowhere'. In utopian construction there is a constant pull of the dichotomy between the real and the positing of an alternative reality, a fictional, imagined 'other' world or state, mostly ideal in nature. As entities all forms of alternative reality, including illusion, any matrix has validity only in its relationship to the sensory or physical real. Inherent to matrix construction is the fact that it is created adjacent to another more presiding space. My concept of matrixial space is also vaguely related to Michel Foucault’s notion of heterotopia, describing non-hegemonic (equal) places that exist simultaneously. Although Foucault defines heterotopia as an approximation of an imaginary utopia – and this is certainly built into my conception of the matrix – it remains fundamentally a parallel space that functions in co-option and anticipation of the other more ‘presiding’ space (the real, mostly).