“Existence is elsewhere” –André Breton

When we use our personal portable devices as a primary means of human experience, and to validate or construct an identity through online interactions, we are disconnecting from the present moment and immediate physical surroundings. We enter and exist in worlds devoid of matter and form, texture and time. We find comfort and escape in the anesthesia of the senses and wholesale disembodiment that the internet affords. There are now two worlds of self—the online self and the ever-diminishing offline self.

In the projected videos, the viewer’s doppelganger is smothered in unflinching real time and space--often mind-numbingly subtle cadences of observable change. The action in the videos challenges our abilities to detect what is happening, if anything—totally unlike the pace, excitement and gratification of the internet. The videos seem incapable of grabbing our attention yet present uncanny allure. The locations come across as both specific and generic, often without posting-worthy attributes. The star and co-star (artist and chair) do not entertain or otherwise engage the viewer. The real-life co-star is placed in the exhibition space for viewers to sit, go online, and discover what the star “is like.” They will encounter an AI generated persona.