Observing how the printed image acts as a channel of communication, the analogue practice of collage can act as an inquiry into how these systems are structured and interpreted, and how they shape our thoughts and actions. As a reaction to an ever rapidly mutating technological world, the work in this series explores communication systems, from internal feedback loops within my own artistic practice and decision making strategies, to external ones.
» 03_the other side / greener grass(2022) analogue collage (film posters) 69cm x 101cm
Cybernetics was defined in 1948 by Norbert Wiener as “the science of control and communication, in the animal and the machine” - basically, the theory of messages. Both cybernetics and artificial intelligence are different ways of thinking about intelligent systems or systems that can act toward reaching a goal, and can be applied across many aspects of human existence including psychological habits and human awareness. Exploring the work of art as a complex dynamic system, art making becomes a tool to investigate the artistic process from initiation to completion, opening up an inquiry into artist / machine and art as object / process.
Through embodying Maxwell Maltz' psycho-cybernetic theory that “It requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to gel”, 21 consecutive days were set aside to create one daily collage using a pool of outdated film poster multiples as collage material, utilising the consistent size of the film poster. Constraints, used a little like the programming of a machine that is given the power to learn, assist the direction of the work.
The work was completed in June 2022, The feedback loop now switches to that of audience and artwork. Cybernetics provided me with a starting point from which observations of the world can be made, whilst the printed material allowed me with the opportunity to look for patterns, repetitions and connections. The film poster is a representation of illusion and fantasy, a place of reinvention. Working with multiple versions of the same image allowed chances to reinvent, reflecting the human urge to modify and correct.
» 06_what matters is in the connections(2022) analogue collage (film posters) 69cm x 101cm
» 08_Data sets are selective stories(2022) analogue collage (film posters) 69cm x 101cm
» 10_what matters is in the connections II(2022) analogue collage (film posters) 69cm x 101cm