Mechanistic Roving
In Mechanistic Roving, I used the blending of digital image capture and modified plastic cameras to render off-world landscapes once imagined by a boy lost in a world of his own making. The work explores individual perceptions and experiences, including the desire for “Gemeinschaftsgefühl”, a sense of belonging to a productive and thriving community of people within a healthy environment. It contemplates the risk of exposure to incalculable biological vulnerabilities and the numerous social stressors placed upon a group of extraordinary humans in extraordinary circumstances. It considers the fragile environmental balance and the use of its natural resources. Mechanistic Roving allows for the visualization of our role in a global community within the vast infinite realm of space. On the macro level, it also functions as a catalyst for memory, a physical manifestation of an adventurous and creative child’s yearning to escape into a new place, untainted and unexplored. It is meant to elicit questions like, “Can diverse groups of humans work productively together for progress without destroying one another or over consuming scarce resources?”, “Would I prefer to operate as a singular entity or as part of a collective?” or even “What progress or losses would have occurred if we had collectively remained transfixed by the notion that space travel and planet colonization were worthy goals post-Cold War?”