Vestigial Structure
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2020
Photographs, Google Translate generated texts
Individual print: 35 L x 24 W in (89 x 61 cm)
Installation view from Festival Images Vevey, Switzerland
“Vestigial Structure” is a series of prints, where the images were generated using Google Translate. The work diverts the "camera" function of the app, which usually allows one to live-view a text and obtain an instantaneous translation. Through the eyes of this technology, the natural environment is being interpreted as Chinese/Japanese writings, and overlaying the translated English onto images of moving water, rock surfaces, plants, landscapes, and the like.
To be perceived as an extension of our senses, our technologies and AI are revealing hidden messages in these natural elements, otherwise invisible to the naked eye. The work displays a sense of desperation as we strive to understand the natural world; at the same time, could it be that our environment is trying to communicate with us, warning us with what to come?
