This piece is best experienced before reading about it.
click below to experience the work.
"I would like to suggest that we think of trickster artists as _artus_-workers, joint-workers. Not that they are much involved with making the firm and well-set joints that lead to classical harmony, of course. What tricksters like is the _flexible_ or _movable_ joint. If a joint comes apart, or if it moves from one place to another, or if it simply loosens up where it had begun to stiffen, some trickster has probably been involved. In several different ways, tricksters are joint-disturbers." - Lewis Hyde, Trickster Makes This World.
Central to this piece is the cursor, the user's agency on the screen. Despite the flood of touchscreen devices, the precision and physicality of a mouse or trackpad remains unparalleled for any prolonged or intricate work. We take for granted the implicit connection between physical movement and the corresponding control we have over the on-screen cursor. The gap between the cursor and the physical device is small but it provides an opportunity for play and disruption.
In this case, by using the web browser's Pointer_Lock_API. Originally intended for use in first-person shooter games, this technology locks the cursor to the center of the screen but continues to report mouse's movements. This allows the software to hide the real cursor and redraw a 'fake cursor' which can be controlled solely from code.
Control 1.2 invites participants to draw a face, a fundamental expression of self. Yet, as they do so, their creation is disrupted with symbols of corporate identity, challenging the viewer to contemplate the complex relationship between selfhood and the consumer culture that seeks to define it. The clean, precise vectors of the branding logos provide a useful contrasting aesthetic to the messy sketchiness of the human-drawn lines, clearly showing that the disruption is intentional and controlled.
The act of drawing, of mark making, becomes a metaphor for existence within and beyond the confines of control. More than a commentary on capitalist society, this piece reflects on the broader struggle of defining oneself amidst a cacophony of external influences and internal narratives.
The resulting image is a collaborative tapestry, blending the precision of machine-generated vectors with the organic, sketch-like strokes of the human artist. This fusion embodies the ongoing dialogue between human creativity and technological intervention, blurring the lines of authorship and challenging the viewer to discern where one influence ends and another begins.
