Isaac explores the theatrical side of technology
This story was previously published in Metropolis M and written by Maarten Buser.
An animated film plays on a screen. A power strip on the floor appears not to be plugged in, yet its light is still on. Two desktop computers (remember those?) are pushed forward by opening CD trays and bump into each other. Phones move across the floor, attached to rotating selfie stands. If you look closely, you can spot theatre lights somewhere in the space. Isaac van den Aker (student Design Art Technology) explains: ‘I was creating the different artworks for my presentation when together they started to form a kind of scenography. It became a world you can walk through.’
The setting highlights both the material and theatrical side of technology. Just look at the way the phones demand attention by constantly refreshing themselves. Van den Aker describes screens as windows that offer a view into a constantly changing and elusive alternative reality. ‘Sometimes I wonder what happens when that content disappears. A kind of black hole emerges. Could new possibilities arise to fill the screen again?’
Van den Aker enjoys exploring the possibilities of technology. ‘I like using things in ways other than what they were designed for. As a child, I used PowerPoint a lot, not to make presentations but to create animated films. I’m interested in the materiality of the digital world, even though at its core it often consists of little more than electricity. Is the light from a screen something physical or something immaterial?’
Van den Aker graduated from the Design Art Technology programme, a hybrid course situated somewhere between technology and art. ‘For me, it’s about the aesthetic experience: being completely captivated by technology.’ You could say that he brings a sense of magic back into a reality that technology is increasingly mapping and explaining. ‘I enjoy working with ordinary, recognisable objects in order to create confusion.’ He hopes visitors will begin to question what they are seeing, asking themselves, for example: what potential qualities could a power strip have beyond its familiar function?
