Things between us
In many ways, we’ve never been closer to and farther away from each other than we are in the Age of Information. We communicate by phone, text, email, and social media. Scientists have already begun to find ways to read thoughts as bioelectricity and translate them directly into the visual and digital spheres. In the near future, we may operate a computer by thinking alone, without a keyboard or touchscreen. The interface as a physical barrier, in other words, may disappear altogether. These more conventional interfaces may die and boundaries collapse, bringing us closer to one another than any time in history. However, at the same time, speed, directness, and frequency of communication don’t necessitate closeness or even connectivity.
Existent digital communication has already proven to be socially polarizing; fraught with privacy issues; and psychologically damaging. Considered in this light, what does the collapse or hyper-immediacy of the interface signal? What does it mean for the ways we speak and connect to one another, and how should we respond to it going forward?
That engages viewers in these issues. Examining questions like these, You and Me is a 3-D typographic installation that uses playful, interconnected words made out of orange yarn, which slowly reveals itself to be a poetic yet dire meditation on communication, technology, bodies, and loneliness in the twenty-first century.
