The Re-Boot Sale
In 2011, I was approached by Kelly Sutherland, one of the students on the digital media course at the University of Sussex and asked if I could help with an installation she was putting together for her final project. Here is the description of the piece from the project's web page:
The Re-Boot Sale is an interactive installation that questions the proposed ephemerality of media in the digital age. Conceptually grounded in tactical media practices, it aims to demonstrate the political and environmental repercussions of a society over-saturated with new technologies. Notions of technology fatigue are also explored in order to examine the possible emotional effects that such saturation may have.
The Re-Boot Sale encourages participants to have a traditional, mechanical interaction with objects and invites them to bring an unwanted piece of media to leave behind, explore the media already there and leave with something ‘new’. Visitors can also record feedback about their swap on a replica arcade machine. This prominent feature both encapsulates the change in technology as it too has become replaced by modern counterparts, and also by creating a lasting record of the event, challenging proposed notions that digitisation produces intangible art.
With original art work by Kelvin Green, designed specifically for the project, a panoramic canvas portrays our future waste sites. Littered only by unwanted media that has become passé, undesirable or forgotten; mirroring the space which it adorns.
The original idea was for me to create four linked images which would then be copied on to the walls of Kelly's space, but restrictions on what could be done with the area led to us changing the plan to a more modest single image. Based on Kelly's description, I put together a sketch.
The Re-Boot Sale is an interactive installation that questions the proposed ephemerality of media in the digital age. Conceptually grounded in tactical media practices, it aims to demonstrate the political and environmental repercussions of a society over-saturated with new technologies. Notions of technology fatigue are also explored in order to examine the possible emotional effects that such saturation may have.
The Re-Boot Sale encourages participants to have a traditional, mechanical interaction with objects and invites them to bring an unwanted piece of media to leave behind, explore the media already there and leave with something ‘new’. Visitors can also record feedback about their swap on a replica arcade machine. This prominent feature both encapsulates the change in technology as it too has become replaced by modern counterparts, and also by creating a lasting record of the event, challenging proposed notions that digitisation produces intangible art.
With original art work by Kelvin Green, designed specifically for the project, a panoramic canvas portrays our future waste sites. Littered only by unwanted media that has become passé, undesirable or forgotten; mirroring the space which it adorns.
The original idea was for me to create four linked images which would then be copied on to the walls of Kelly's space, but restrictions on what could be done with the area led to us changing the plan to a more modest single image. Based on Kelly's description, I put together a sketch.
This was the kind of thing Kelly was after, but she asked for a lighter touch, with thinner linework and fewer black spaces.
We toyed with colour, but the results were not to our liking, so we decided to go with a grey tone approach for the final piece.
A few modifications later, and the piece was printed on canvas and mounted in the exhibition space.
Many thanks to Bob Duffield for the photographs.
