Earlier this year I participated in an event that was a collaborative experience with art-scientist Andrew Carnie. Along with other artists we worked on sculptural entries that made up the exhibit Change My Mind, which deals with the mind and its potential alteration using implanted devices.
As an emerging media artist myself who works with VR, AR, Projection mapping as well as other technology and techniques, it was refreshing to get back to working with paper!
Changes in my life over the past couple of years have brought about an upheaval in my personal and professional life. It has meant a combination of me coming to terms with my situation and relationships as well as old unaddressed issues. As a means of adapting and better equipping myself, I’ve been exploring my mental health and looking into habit breaking exercises for my well being. There is no shortcut for such development or therapy today.
Perhaps one day an implant could facilitate this kind of growth and recalibration.
This work is an attempt to visualise this process, where an implant would rip out undesirable parts of one's personality or behaviour, while nurturing and enabling other underdeveloped ones.
My first thought was to create something in Virtual Reality or Artificial Reality, my current artistic medium, to depict an implant that could hack into digital devices, networks, blockchains.
However, upon introspection over the last few weeks, on my own exploration of my mind, I decided to try a different approach, embracing an old familiar technique to evoke a fantastical technological breakthrough of sorts.
For this piece I have used paper carving and sculptural techniques. I used to love this medium almost two decades ago. Lately I have been revisiting positive things from my past, and so decided to revisit this medium for the project.
The event was facilitated by Science Gallery Bengaluru.
Details on the project can be seen here: https://bengaluru.sciencegallery.com/psy-ar-events/change-my-mind
