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Before Dawn

Artists

crocodilePOWER

Year2021
MaterialOil on canvas
Size90 х 120 cm
650 000 ₽
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Описание

Crocodile Power work primarily with painting and sculpture and use various mixed media. Exploring the consequences of technological progress, the artists reveal the physical and psychological metamorphoses that occur in people as a result of interaction with virtual reality. Their practice is based on the study of the intangible feeling of ambiguity, loss of self and confrontation with the destruction of meaning - all that so vividly characterizes modern man in our era.

 

Crocodile Power often turn to the allegory of the dark forest as cyberspace in their works. The image of a dark forest has been used for centuries to denote a place of mystery and danger. In old German fairy tales, the forest is the habitat of magical creatures. In some epic poems, the forest is an incomprehensible will that opposes the desires of those who fall into it and perceive it as a given. In other literary works, the forest is a metaphor for the sphinx, offering the hero a chance at glory if he proves worthy. As in Beckett's Waiting for Godot, in our interactions with virtuality we experience the same simulation, with the absence of memory nourishing an endless hope for salvation. Beckett's characters Vladimir and Estragon cannot influence anything, they cannot even die of their own free will. There is nothing to do but watch the transformation and try to understand it. Humanity has invented the virtual not only as a form of escapism, but also as a form of self-justification. Myth is not only knowledge, but also a purpose. The real and the virtual merge, and man turns into raw material.

 

Cyberspace, like the dark forest, is a volitional consciousness that continually asserts itself, absorbing our thoughts and desires. Oberon's will is carried out by cyberpriests who, under the guise of corporate executives with virtual interfaces, enchant us with their digital spells. Our ever-shrinking attention limits our collective humanity, while technological progress accelerates the process of metamorphosis. We know we are alive because we see and hear, even as our senses are stimulated to the point of numbness.

 

Text: Anton Svyatsky, ed. Ekaterina Allenova