Signs & Symbols. Mobile Tagging Art Installation
For this exhibit I use the aesthetics of fractals and geometric abstraction to investigate the ubiquity of mobile technology in today’s life. I propose the interaction with the viewer through the decoding of signs and symbols in an installation that is, above all, a quest for beauty.
In 2010 I coined the term “Mobile Tagging Art” to define the artistic expression that uses scanning, decoding, and reading out geometric shapes to reveal content, without sacrifice of the aesthetic engagement. Using the camera of a mobile device to re-interpret numeric codes, Mobile Tagging Art gives artistic meaning to the fast-growing technology of mobile internet: geometric symbols that carry tags and induce communication with a cell phone.
The proposal is based on the impact of 2D coding on society in the early 21st century: everything and everyone bearing contents and meanings in all possible combinations. As geometrical 2D codes have become part of almost every domain of life, fed by an incessant flow of data in real time to find information faster, they have also raised a generation of impatient consumers. My installation uses these 2D codes to make the spectator pause and be captivated by the beauty evident in their geometric weaving. My ultimate interest lies in the aesthetics of the geometric codes.
In Signs & Symbols, which aims to fill the gallery walls with an uninterrupted series of works with obvious visual continuity, a mesh is built to encourage interaction with the viewer, via their phones, and the technology of the binary codes, to find scattered data and information about today’s world and the most sought after URL’s in cyberspace. Signs & Symbols enhances the experience of social media and extends it to a new format, a world of geometric art.
Is technology bringing people together or drifting them apart? Is one question explored by this installation conceived for the MADI Museum. Where will these advances take us? Can geometric codes make internet irrelevant one day? Could you scan a code to manifest physical reality? This installation is about exploring, learning and finding the beauty inherent in fractal geometry. Exploring motivates me, I am drawn to the unknown, the essence of my work is to be constantly exploring and finding. I force digital technology to do things it was not originally designed to. This is a craft of patience that takes me beyond some barriers and beyond what’s apparent. I’d like to think that my geometric work humanizes technology, that it turns it into a warm form of human expression.