Final year project
The green digital Utopian daydream (2020)
This is an image of one frame from a moving image displaying a digital Landscape of 'The Green Digital Utopian Daydream' as a whole composition. The inhabitants of this non-place are blessed by nature and technology. There are two floating islands to the right that defy gravity and there are various fictional versions of myself scattered along the composition. This surreal image holds the notions of tranquillity, enlightenment and optimism with some escapist symbolism and psychedelic imagery. I found completing the composition quite challenging due to how many images I was using and how much detail I wanted to display.
Their utopia; our dystopia (2020)
This is an image of one frame, from a moving image which displays a thought provoking composition peeking into a digitised nightmarish world of uncertainty. This relates to the notions of fear, anxiety and humour as a way of conveying a satirical dystopian version of London. This is a direct contrast to 'The Green Digital Utopian Daydream' where there is a peaceful balance between nature and technology. I had some issues with the quality of resolution with the video and how to display the moving image onto a wall. The projector I was using made the animation quite blurry, so I chose to use screens as a way of displaying my moving images.
Diptych as moving image window frames mounted on wall in gallery
The repeated moving image on the left displays a chaotic animation. Both compositions are displayed as a window for the audience to ponder, immersing themselves to treat the windows as a portal to this ‘otherworldly’ non-place. The
duality between optimism and anxiety shows two ways we could see the world, whether its negative or positive. We see aspects of Utopia and dystopia within our daily lives and hope to reflect the best of humanity within ourselves.
The floating tree-house island and the levitating time Sakura tree
These floating islands are part of the daydream composition, as the landscape is transformed into a fantasy dreamscape. The tree-house is a psychological idea of home. The windows at the top in the tree connect to my parent's home, where mine and my sister's bedrooms are. The person sat below is my enlightened self, who sits quietly as he meditates listening to the calm ripples of the vast ocean. The Sakura tree on the other island fruits pocket watches to symbolise time flying in the months of March/April under lockdown.
Scenery of fusion plant/Nightingale Hospital/Eden Project
The amalgamation of eclectic imagery in embedded into this image. The use of digital drawing and photo-montage creates this unusual process, where I had to balance the use of saturated colour. The type of buildings reflect to what kind of society I deemed 'good' or Utopian. The Fusion Plant generates clean energy to the inhabitants via salt water, which is pumped through the ducts. The Nightingale hospital is moral and the angelic nurse signifies how important the NHS is, especially during this pandemic. The pub to the right is a visual reflection of what most British folk miss, having a good ole pint at the local pub. The Eden Project below demonstrates how important plants are to people, promoting the sustainable use of green resources.
The green Utopian festival
I have designed this area where my sister plays her DJ music at an imaginary concert, with the Cosmic Astronaut playing the synthetic keyboard. During lockdown, we hung out in the garage, whilst she played her recordings. On the left is an allotment and a fire pit surrounded by tyre seats. In the foreground a child wears a red panda onesie hugging two Labradors, this is another pseudo self, which represents innocence. The teenager next to him is playing on virtual reality, whilst connected to the cybertrunk, which is completely powered by clean electricity.
Cosmic astronaut pseudo alter-ego playing on keyboard chasing an orb around a galaxy
'The Cosmic Astronaut' was designed to play alongside my sister as she plays her music. In reality, I spent a few days playing on a keyboard, experimenting with notes, feeling melancholy as lockdown continued. 'The Cosmic Astronaut' is a gamer as he holds a PlayStation controller within his left hand. This resembles the temptation to play video games. The celestial symbolism resembles an urging feeling to escape when trapped in isolation. The lone astronaut chases his dreams whilst caught orbiting around the galaxy.
The Astronoumenon; an outer space object that is undetectable via our five main senses
An 'Astronoumenon' is a made up word. The imaginary word connects two words, 'Astro' and 'Noumenon'. 'Astro' meaning, outer space and 'Noumenon' meaning, it cannot be observed via the main five senses. Immanuel Kant's 'Noumenon' is described as, '...an object or event that exists independently of human sense and/or perception'. I collected various shapes to develop an aesthetic as the power source of the Utopian society producing clean electricity via nuclear fusion, a technology we as humans have not yet been able to harness.
Samuel Carter
My work is predominantly based on a duality of emotions involving optimism and anxiety within the mundane through aspects of Utopian and dystopian digital photo montage.
I am currently working on a balance between fact and fiction in an optimistic version of reality denoting an ideal surrealist Utopian daydream. The material I use involves digital appropriation, sketching, painting and animation to convey a political narrative, which helps the audience understand how we all see the world differently. Influences include art movements; Surrealism, Progressive Utopian-ism and Alter-modernism. I also follow philosophy by Immanuel Kant and Carl Jung particularly their works on morality and the unconscious ego. My compositions explore phantasmagorical imagery in landscape on a mission for tranquillity in an uncertain world. My aim currently is to express an imagined documentation of self-reflection in the world I live in. Appropriation is a tool I use to encourage differently ways of using digital drawing.
Dissertation
Comparing Post-Utopian world-building projects in contemporary art and architecture.