Year: 2022
Mixed media installation

Technique & Material:
Plasma cut steel frame, 3D animation, bark beetle infested spruce, single board computers, LCD screens (various lengths)
Installation photos by: David Stjernholm + Carl Ander

Our digital presence has become central to our lived experience. While we might not readily acknowledge it, we are now more vulnerable than ever to infection, cyber-attack, and manipulation. Our physical beings are so enmeshed with our virtual lives that we willingly deposit social relationships, memories, and valuable assets into the care of our digital selves. But a computer virus infects its host much like a biological one. When a programme runs, it executes itself to cause damage. Each animation in this work describes an action inspired by common code viruses to illustrate how they mutate, replicate, and contaminate functioning programmes.

Wh331 0f 1!f3 is a reference to the Buddhist symbolic representation of cyclical existence – the bhavacakra, or wheel of life. In these twelve films, arranged irregularly on a suspended structure, we follow a parasitic digital life form as it attempts to navigate the wheel to attain digital nirvana.