OCEAN, algorithm, 2017, (soundtrack by Vytautas V. Jurgutis)
The question – what is real – haunts the human mind and imagination since the beginning of critical thinking. This question is especially urgent today, with the explosion of power in the media, where immense manipulation about facts, truth and alternatives emerged. Photographic images and increased use of algorithms are at the core of this contemporary phenomena and we can ask – how they shape our reality and how they got so deep into our minds.
Ocean is my guess.
Reality is temporary and we clearly realize our helplessness in the presence of time flow. For centuries, it was the ‘job’ of religion to ease worries connected with this problem. The core of religious belief is rooted in concepts of eternity and infinity. The main driving force of it was the promise of fulfillment of these two concepts in the afterlife. With the decreasing role of religion or any metaphysical endeavor in modern society it might seem that the ideas of eternity and infinity are going to oblivion too, but they (I suppose) found new habitat – algorithms and photographic images.
Algorithms are disconnected from the earthly time and furthermore – its space. The code can run forever, is omnipresent and – invisible. A photographic image contains promise that time can be stopped, that an object can be made of a single instance of time. This object is special – it will not change. It will stay the same forever. Metaphysical promises of eternal time and infinite space do seem to be fulfilled (although unconsciously) every time we take photographs or dive into a code-created world.
So Ocean is the reflection of this new reality of truth. The image of Ocean is produced only by algorithm. It seems real and it is pleasant to watch. And it does not matter that under its surface there is nothing real (except the pleasure).
First time Ocean was installed in an attic of a catholic church to emphasize this common ground of an image, algorithm and metaphysical belief systems.
In 2019 it was shown in Jerusalem.
OCEAN is acquired by National Museum of Art.
