MONTAGE

THE STATE OF PLAY 2012-14

SOCIAL MEDIA POLITICS 1

The State of Play is one of three artworks in the series Social Media Politics. The others are: 
Warheads,
and
Breaking

Images of the violence of social upheaval and war have become so commonplace that it is unremarkable to see them in print, on news broadcasts or on the internet. Accordingly the images collected here do not concentrate upon one single event as they are a meditation upon the framing of such content. The images use a process of interlacing to present a third image, one that resists the normative presentation in order to question this process of desensitization. The interlaced image often retains one’s attention as we try to see each image, extract it from the complexity of the third image. This process of examination enables an oscillation between the search for the source images, and the appreciation of the new image. It mirrors the state of desensitization as in order to view the interlaced image, we must be willing to tolerate a willing ignorance of the originals. 
The imagery is all pulled from the internet as screenshots, a factor that is central to the intent of the work. The images are not manipulated or edited in terms of content, quality or pixel dimension, in order to retain the integrity of the original imagery, ensuring the transparency of the image source. This also allows a critical appraisal of the way these framing structures coexists within the larger structure of hyper-capital. The continuation of advertising is relentless, and on these images, very evident within the fabric of highly distressing imagery. The ultimate effect of mass desensitization is a progressively increased tolerance level for permanent war.  

There are 60 images in this artwork, a selection are below.