IOCOSE (2021), Making Progress, web-based animation.
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In Making Progress IOCOSE propose an interactive web-based animation representing a spinning top on an extra-terrestrial planet. Along the edge of the top pointing hands are arranged circularly, each pointing towards the next hand, in an endless loop. The loop can be activated by dragging the top from left to right. The loop and circularity recall the return of the same or quasi-identical, the cyclical condition that regulates the release of new technologies, their anticipation, and the inevitable phase of obsolescence.
We are told that we live in an age of constant technological progress, but the distant horizon is a mirage destined to continually move forward, thus remaining unattainable. The only way to try to reach this deceptive horizon is to move forward, progress, make constant upgrades and updates. The same narrative of progress is reflected in the NewSpace movement, where humankind as a whole is called to action in a project of extra-terrestrial colonization (a theme explored by IOCOSE in the video installation Pointing at a New Planet, 2019). The narratives of technological progress that arise from the Silicon Valley promise individual and collective improvement. IOCOSE have been focusing their artistic production around this theme. “Move forward” is the imperative that returns in the work of IOCOSE, for example in their attempt to accelerate the Earth’s rotation in Spinning the Planet (2013), or in the Moving Forward (2016) series where, in short videos lasting a few seconds, they move everyday objects with their index finger.
Moving forward as a social and moral imperative. An imperative that is also reflected in our daily lives, and in the constant drive to improve and progress, without questioning the ultimate goal of such a collective movement.
Clik here to launch the animation.
The work has been realized in collaboration with INBTWN, a digital exhibition at Centrale Fies curated by Claudia D’Alonzo, and selected for The Impermanent Collection by OGR Art Corner | Meet the Artwork.
