Our digital presence continues indefinitely, serving as an allegory for the living who grapple with the concept of mortality.
The exhibition "NEW VOID" draws inspiration from the theme of "vanitas," a symbolic representation of death found in still-life paintings from 16th and 17th-century Netherlands and Flanders. In today's contemporary era, where every event is documented by social media's discreet surveillance and AI's fragmented generation, the traditional concept of death has undergone a transformation.
Vanitas has long been a significant motif in Western art, with artists like Paul Cézanne and Marcel Duchamp incorporating it into their work. Duchamp, in particular, left the inscription "Besides, it is always the others who die" on his gravestone.
In our reality, no one truly comprehends death, making it a somewhat abstract concept. Even in the digital realm, where data is immortalized in blockchain and digital archives, there's no universal understanding of death. Our digital presence continues indefinitely, serving as an allegory for the living who grapple with the concept of mortality.
In this age, we ourselves become the vanitas motif, depicted by the digital data of virtual space. While AI may not experience life in the same way we do, it reflects back to us our own understanding—or lack thereof—of death.
