THE END
This was my senior show in undergrad. I attempted to breach the topics of environmental collapse, neoliberal capitalism, and mass production with a bit of humor by creating a diorama dedicated to the present moment as if curated by an alien species thousands of years in the future.
Show statement:
11/29/2015
“THE END” is the culmination of two separate bodies of work, both dealing with crisis and artmaking.
1. I’m drawn to online trends like vaporwave with an emphasis on a post-digital aesthetic, nostalgic for a technological utopia that never arrives. There’s something both terrifying and exciting in recognizing the present as post-apocalyptic, kitschy, characterized by mountains of mass-produced relics that will never decay, its documentation in obsolete recording formats, and an alienating relationship between simulation and substance that spills out into our social interactions. There is a subtle discord behind these candy-colored objects: We’re past the tipping point of environmental collapse, distracted by our toys, and led on by belief in a productive relationship between capital production and technology.
We’re past the tipping point of environmental collapse, distracted by our toys, and led on by belief in a productive relationship between capital production and technology.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could finally get our shit together?
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It’s the end of the world! There’s no future!
2. Nothing can be made for the sake of posterity anymore. The other part of this exhibition is an attempt to embrace an indifference to the intimidating presence of blank sheets, white walls, fine arts, and empty spaces in the face of accelerating destruction. I’m paralyzed, tangled up in ideologies and the words of hundreds of people all saying that they’re right, and I’ve still got nothing to say. I can’t stop here.
“THE END” is also an investigation into a means to keep myself open, empathetic, and alive to the people around me, since silence allows structures of power to proliferate unexamined when disguised as Business as Usual. I can refuse to make Art, and settle for simple markmaking because the kinds of interventions I’m interested in come from a combination of close looking and ugly spills. I’m tired.