{art project} [grant, research based, digital/net based art]
Project developed as part of the Virtual Nursery Residency by Pollinator Studio and exhibited as part of the online exhibition 'Fissure' at the end of the residency. Enter the project by clicking here. 'Fissure' Digital Walkthrough can be found below along with a video documenting my residency experience and more about the project.
We often speak about the digital divide but what about the accessibility divide? The Missing Link explores ableism in digital spaces, investigating the varied access needs of a spectrum of tech users. This is a more pressing issue now more than ever as a result of the pandemic and the digital shift in our lives. The interactive space created here aims to provoke the audience to question the norm and think about inclusion and exclusion in digital infrastructures today.
This space here, on the screen, as well as between you and the device, is intimate and personal. In our current times our relationship with technology is like second nature and our digital experiences feel like a second skin. A skin close to our breath. We breathe onto the screen and it sustains us; our interactions, our freedoms and our limitations are mediated and defined by the system and the screen. This digital aesthetic has become a norm, ruled by a set of protocols, which will always be associated with this moment in time.
The Missing Link subverts the functions of digital elements in a playful manner to present an interactive experience which is created in collaboration with the viewer/participant in a process of collective meaning making. This became a way for me to play with the dynamics of power and control in our interaction and relation with technology. Finally the intention is to reinterpret digital functions in new or different ways, through the lens of a disabled tech user, in order to critique or comment on the same in digital environments. The work has therefore been developed as an interactive, participatory experience for the viewer. It comprises of audio, video and text and is naturally a highly performative space. The audience can navigate their way through this in order to discover a new perspective and forge an informed awareness of their relationship with technology. In this regard, the project is created with an able bodied audience in mind. With this awareness on the rise, we can hope for the bridging of the accessibility divide and make technology inclusive in the truest sense.
This artwork is created as part of ‘Fissure’ curated by Shaleen Wadhwana for Virtual Nursery (2020-21) by Pollinator.
'Fissure' - Digital Walkthrough:
Video documenting my residency experience and more about the project:
