Our daily lives have undergone drastic changes over the past two years, spreading mainly fear and uncertainty. Limited freedom of movement in the physical world has led to the transfer of relations and meeting opportunities to a virtual, seemingly “social” reality after 2020 that is inexorably flowing behind the screens of computers and smartphones. The use of technological tools and the amazing multitude of stimuli and messages that can be experienced through them gave us the illusion that we can easily survive in a critical situation that seriously questioned our previous beliefs, but… is it really so? Does the fact that we spend a lot of time on the Internet in front of the screen really help us solve problems and connect with others?
It might seem that daily conversations via mobile devices can help us to keep in touch with each other and can offer us infinite “mobility,” but we, as people with a strong need to live in a group, begin to notice an objective and sometimes exaggerated state – loneliness! We live as in an inflatable bubble, guaranteeing us the comfort of insulation, in which our only “friend” is the phone screen. We are increasingly trapped in an imaginary zone of perfect virtual life, which, instead of connecting us, distances us from each other. Dependence on technology significantly reduces our ability to make independent decisions. In the long run, it can lead to negative or even fatal consequences. By undermining the ability to recognize the rightness of the paths to follow, it may trigger mechanisms from which it will be difficult to withdraw or modify them.
In the “SOCIAL TRAP” installation, we see a transparent, inflatable ball that shows our daily deepening isolation from the outside world, in which there is only room for one person, deluding that we can cross the whole world without obstacles or worries. We are encouraged to enter by the illuminated “calling for help” located inside the smartphone. However, it is only a trap that invites us to its place at every step, in which any movement is limited and from which it is very difficult to get out.
Installation view (200 x 200 x 200cm)
Installation (200 x 200 x 200cm)
Installation (200 x 200 x 200cm)
2022