5 Natural Environment
5
Natural Environment began through exploring the role of nature in urban environments.
By interviewing people in parks, it revealed many people assosciated ‘green space’ with relaxation, respite, and a ‘break’ from daily routine or the wider urban landscape. I documented walks, led by pathways created by weeds or traces of plants throughout London to get a sense of the presence of nature beyond parks throughout the city, questioning the perceived distinction between ‘good’ valuable nature and ‘bad’ unsightly plant life.
My project centered on this symbolic value of nature in contemporary society – primarily the use and objectification of ‘natural’ scenes particularly within smartphone-based mental health apps. It explores a discomfort with seeking psychological relief through technology, examining artificial versus ‘real’ experience.
Within a constructed installation reminiscent, or prospective, of a table-top personal computer or digital home display, a collage of digitally enhanced footage depicting areas of forest and greenery found within London is shown.
The audio voiceover heard over headphones is generated through processing short transcribed snippets of mindfulness podcasts (from mindfulness apps such as Calm) in OpenAI’s language learning model GPT-2, fabricating a generic audio track using vocabulary and intonation that mimics speech patterns associated with genuine mindfulness guidance and training. In this piece, I try blur the distinction between real and unreal experience, encouraging the viewer to question the effects and their percpetion of these differences.
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mixed media installation space
12 11x7cm printed photographs, acrylic props
video with two channel audio
duration: 3:35 minutes (looped)
By interviewing people in parks, it revealed many people assosciated ‘green space’ with relaxation, respite, and a ‘break’ from daily routine or the wider urban landscape. I documented walks, led by pathways created by weeds or traces of plants throughout London to get a sense of the presence of nature beyond parks throughout the city, questioning the perceived distinction between ‘good’ valuable nature and ‘bad’ unsightly plant life.
My project centered on this symbolic value of nature in contemporary society – primarily the use and objectification of ‘natural’ scenes particularly within smartphone-based mental health apps. It explores a discomfort with seeking psychological relief through technology, examining artificial versus ‘real’ experience.
Within a constructed installation reminiscent, or prospective, of a table-top personal computer or digital home display, a collage of digitally enhanced footage depicting areas of forest and greenery found within London is shown.
The audio voiceover heard over headphones is generated through processing short transcribed snippets of mindfulness podcasts (from mindfulness apps such as Calm) in OpenAI’s language learning model GPT-2, fabricating a generic audio track using vocabulary and intonation that mimics speech patterns associated with genuine mindfulness guidance and training. In this piece, I try blur the distinction between real and unreal experience, encouraging the viewer to question the effects and their percpetion of these differences.
___________
mixed media installation space
12 11x7cm printed photographs, acrylic props
video with two channel audio
duration: 3:35 minutes (looped)