THE PROTECTED AND THE UNPROTECTED
For the last decade my work has explored the relationship between new technologies, the simulated world and the disappearing natural landscape. My attraction to the use of beeswax, cast bronze, pigments, reflective surfaces, charcoal, cast salt and cement, is not only appealing for their sensuous tactile qualities; but symbolically conveys a reference to hermetically sealing the image from reality, suggesting the desire to protect the vulnerable. The complexities of adaptation; regarding the natural landscape and human development seems inescapable.
The ability for a culture to create a simulated world-may inhibit the need or desire for humans to preserve the natural environment. We may fade into the landscape-where there is neither the real representation or the real remaining. In the years to come the development of artificial intelligence will amplify unintended consequences. However, it may most likely be –technology that will contribute to preserving or replicating the natural world.
The struggle to balance -protecting the unspoiled landscape and allowing for human progress, seems to highlight the need to rethink our place. Who will be the protected or the unprotected-will take center stage, regarding this struggle, in a reimagined world.
Shauna Peck