Gatherings is a tribute to the invention of the integrated circuit and is created with the patterns of historic micro-circuits. Images of these integrated circuits have been etched onto the surface of a pole-like sculpture that suggests totems, spears or bundles of harvested crops. Other visual references that have inspired Gatherings include hieroglyphs and patterned carvings on the walls of temples of the past, as well as Roman fasces; these were bundles of wooden rods that were carried into wars by marching troops, serving as a symbol of the unbreakable power of the Roman Empire.
Gatherings suggests a splintered fasces, a rebellious undoing of Big Tech’s oppressive construction of a surveillance-based digital future. The artwork invites us to imagine alternative futures we can assemble from the broken remnants of a not-to-distant technological past, a time that still held the promise of digital media as a tool of personal empowerment and radical creativity.
The final artwork is given an archeological aspect, its textured surface depicting symbols and codes that seem created by an imaginary lost civilization. In Gatherings, circuit boards transcend their merely functional nature and emerge as perhaps one of the most powerful symbols of our times.
Medium: Acid-Etched Stainless Steel Blocks