The Technology of Yesterday
Second-year Media Arts student Alex Jones has recently displayed his work, The Technology of Yesterday, at the Illuminate light festival
“My work started in digital manipulation such as hex-editing and data moshing but this moved into using analogue technology and working with physical media. For me, you get that feeling of nostalgia with analogue.
It represents happy memories for a lot of people who can remember their home videos as a child.
Of course, there’s always an element of unpredictability when working with analogue but this is what makes it interesting – there’s always a possibility of accidentally ending up with some really interesting work.”
Smile for the camera
“When thinking about developing a piece for the Illuminate light festival, my thought process centred on the anniversary of the Mayflower sailing and how this was a symbol of freedom. With my interest in technology, this brought me to the dangers of technology and our freedom being restricted.
An interactive piece, I want audiences to think about how technology is used for surveillance today.
Using a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) television and home video camera it is run in a feedback loop so you can see yourself on camera alongside graphics.
It subverts the video camera and TV, turning objects that are often associated with happy memories into more sinister, surveillance objects.
A modern parallel can be made between this and mobiles, voice-activated technology and social media, all of which has been accused of carrying out surveillance on their users.”
“I’ve never displayed my work in front of so many people before so I’m interested to see how they interact it. Exhibiting alongside my peers and international artists feels like a real achievement.”
Taking a step back from the chaos
“Coming to Plymouth has offered a different perspective to my home city of London.
It has allowed me to take a step back from the chaos, and to interact with loads of different people from different backgrounds.
With the University of Plymouth there are so many opportunities to produce work outside of my taught course.
If I want to learn a specific process or use a different technology, I can sign-up for a workshop.
I’ve had the chance to exhibit my work and curate an exhibition in a public space.
I hope to continue developing my work in video and dream of working in live video work, creating visuals for live band perform.”
Illuminate light festival
Marking the countdown to Mayflower 2020
Illuminate, a spectacular light festival that connects the Mayflower 400 destinations across the UK and internationally, returned to the historic Royal William Yard and other venues during November/December 2019.
The festival offers an immersive experience, with projections and light installations, live performances and opportunities for audiences to interact with the works.
Find out more about Illuminate
