Future Tense

Sandstone, 70cm h x 38cm w x 20cm d, photography by Stéphane Michaux.

Future Tense was exhibited at Sawmillers Reserve, Sydney, March 2014.

This work builds on, “What Once Was”, 2013, the subject of which was the human impact of the digital revolution.  I am interested in the social changes brought about by technology, the changes to how we act and feel as individuals and as a society.

Future Tense is a large-scale sandstone surveillance device that protrudes from the ground like a stealth periscope.  Future Tense not only alludes to Big Brother anxiety reminiscent of George Orwell’s novel 1984,  but also to the irony of what I call “selfie surveillance” and our obsession with recording everything, often at the detriment of the actual experience.  I am also playing with the growing concern over the future of our personal data ownership and our passive manipulation by virtual giants.

Future Tense was created in sandstone to reference lost civilisations, the aesthetic of both ruins and monuments of our past and the relentless pursuit of time.