COME LETS MAKE A ROAST ON THE FIRE
The theme in my life goes something like this: The ocean is rich. The forest is wealthy. Boredom is bliss.
In 2018 I adopted a day called “no electronic days,” coined NED for short. Something I began to reclaim my time and my life, NED is simple: all electronic devices are off for 24 hours. It’s digital fasting.
It’s pure coincidence that N.E.D. is also the name of Ned Ludd, the legend who led the Luddites of the 19th century against technofacism.
“The Luddites challenged the emerging capitalist system—which centered on efficiency, maximal productivity, and ultimately human redundancy—and instead championed other human values of finely-honed craft skill, community, worker solidarity, and a living wage.”
https://origins.osu.edu/article/fourth-industrial-revolution-and-ghosts-ned-ludd
So what motivated NED? Well in 2018, it happened from dissatisfaction with our growing dependency and adherence to all things digital. I was saddened by our deteriorating human connections and community in real physical spaces. So, naturally and obviously I went to grad school to make art. (Also so I could teach :))
In one of my projects, “AutoSalvation,” I used Photoshop to isolate subjects in medieval paintings. The computer registered contours as blocks of information, resulting in dismembered / disembodied hands.
I performed this experiment with other early middle age paintings, staring at the floating arms and hands for hours. It felt prescient. At the same time, it was ancient knowledge: that the world would be saved or destroyed by the hand of man. I personally don’t believe this myth, but we can see how it prevails today.
Today we seek neo-salvation with a prophetic god in our hand.
More about neo-luddites :
https://nickfthilton.medium.com/do-we-have-the-wrong-luddites-fb412b3f02e4
(https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-the-luddites-really-fought-against-264412/)
Noon Mul 