Crush (29,177,78)
2016
 |
|---|
Image courtesy of artsdiary.co.nz
Glass beads, plastic beads, drawing of sculpture converted to pattern for needlework, nylon thread, brass, latex tube, projected sequence of 137 colours produced using a basic algorithm to convert words for emotions to RGB values
Crush (29,177,78) is a small installation comprising a sequence of colours projected through a glitzy bead screen depicting a drawing of misshapen toes with red painted nails. The colour projection is created by algorithmically translating 137 words for emotions to RGB values. The cube-shaped beads create a pixellated effect, similar to 1980s computer games like Super Mario Brothers. The shadow cast by the beads resembles static.
The title ‘Crush’ refers to infatuation, disappointment, and also destruction. I made the work in 2016, in the earlyish days of online dating. It harnesses the strangeness of interactions that are both superficial and excessively personal, and the uneasy relationship between feelings and data. I was uncomfortable with the idea of creating an idealised, screen-based self and wondered what if, instead of pretending to be perfect, we showed our worst, messiest, or most awkward bits to potential partners. It troubled me that relationships mediated by screens remove cues, like body language, which help read situations. If this way of understanding people gets lost or forgotten, how might it be re-learned?
‘Crush (29,177,78) was exhibited in ‘The Colour Of Your Heart Is What Matters’, at Studio One Toi Tu, curated by Philip Tse.