HyperThinker #2 – TheRight2Silence
Thinking is a solipsistic activity that we do on our own. Yet, as thinkers we are also plural and relational in our online and offline lives. HyperThinker#2 – TheRight2Silence exposes our hyper-connectivity by the subversive act of jamming gps and wifi networks in the vicinity of the artwork, hence critically questioning the nature of the radical shifts that hyper-connectivity impose on the human condition.
KillWifi – KillGPS
De Wilde’s HyperThinker renders us network-less and unreachable, while challenging us to reflect upon our relation with digital networks (e.g what to block and what not, ‘quite’ zones, the right to silence, the ‘grey’ legal zones, …), machines, algorithms, contemporary rituals and ultimately ourselves.
HyperShape
The sculpture is 3d modeled, and manipulated with custom algorithms, by the artist. The final shape is deliberately ambiguous (i.e. hovering on the liminal border of growth and decay) and full of contrast (organic vs geometric morphology).
HyperVisualisation and HyperSonification
By the means of Raspberry Pi’s and a Pi screen, ESP8266, white LED light blinking IN the sculpture, we intend to visualise and sonify Wifi networks.
Towards a 21st Century Thinker
Towards a 21st Century Thinker is an artistic crossover R&d project seeks to explore the ways in which the digital and physical worlds have merged to create an entangled hybrid reality that encompasses us globally, and now offers a new model, new aesthetic with new consequences and new organisation. De Wilde’s HyperThinker series is part of this umbrella project.
The artscience R&D project specifically targets artificial brain and artificial intelligence research, the impact of technology and automation in our society, the role of philosophy and ethics in our increasingly hyper-connected, hyper-automated and technological, hyper-micromanaged, hyper-polarised world.
The artwork series is inspired by the iconic sculpture The Thinker from Rodin that portrays a nude male figure in deep contemplation. De Wilde wondered: “How and what would a 21st Century Thinker look, feel and think like NOW?”
De Wilde conceptualised his ‘Towards a 21st Century Thinker’ during the violent attacks by ISIS/ISIL/ DAESH in Irak and Brussels (e.g. Zaventem Airport).
De Wilde discovered a little known fact concerning The Thinker from Rodin, namely that the Cleveland’s Thinker was victim of a terrorist attack on March 24, 1970. Unidentified bombers strapped what is suspected to have been three sticks of dynamite to its base. The explosion blew off The Thinker’s feet and irreparably damaged the legs. The sculpture is still on exhibit, though it has not been restored. De Wilde’s Thinker makes a subtle reference to this particular terrorist attack by presenting a Thinker with a missing leg.
In the era of hyper-connectivity deliberate destruction of cultural heritage doesn’t limit itself to the physical and globalised world but expands also into the realm of the digital.