These photos are stills of a series of conversations Luna and Roel have had revolving around the relationship between humans and machines. Does digitisation manoeuvre us towards a more rational, frictionless and optimised world? Do emoji have the potential to represent our emotions? Can you still be a tech optimist?
We decided to have performative conversations about how digital culture informs our daily lives, about the selfie, the ego and their shrinking tech optimism. These conversations took place against the backdrop of the Swiss mountains and the old village of Tschlin. The faces of Roel and Luna are painted yellow to create an emoji-persona having the conversations. A special construction with a smartphone attached to a helmet was developed by Thomas to film the faces from upfront.
The conversations however did not only revolve around the topics we planned to discuss. The intention of a ‘podcast-like’ conversation failed due to their personal relationship.
The viewer becomes witness of a conversation where pleasure, assertiveness, wanting to be seen, fragility and insecurity constantly alternate. Real emotions seep through the yellow painted faces and their authority on the subject matter seems less founded than they thought.
Interested in a screening?
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