the medium is the environment (Mica Dam / Zoom / Hsinchu / Vancouver / Katanga Mines)

Examining the intersection of ICT assemblages, the human body, and the natural environment, the project asks the following question: How does the digital environment subjugate both the human environment and the natural environment? The project asserts that ICT assemblages accomplish this through 1) the encoding, extraction, and exploitation of the world’s materiality as resources (in its mining, manufacturing, and ongoing operations) for the ever-expanding information and computation industry, and 2) its ubiquitous and global scope, from being manufactured in Hsinchu, Taiwan (specifically the microchips), with raw materials mined from the Katanga region in Congo, all the way to its deployment in Vancouver, Canada (where the artist currently resides). The project consists of two parts: 1) a downward video projection of an animation that depicts the entanglement between the human, the environment, and digital media, and 2) a fog machine programmed to release a certain amount of fog depending on the historical Internet-usage data of the artist. With the provision of fog acting as a proxy for carbon emission and referencing the illusory "cloud," the project focuses on the environmental impact of our digitized lives, highlighting the materiality of something supposedly immaterial.

documentation - Vancouver 2023