Old Tech For New Art

Technology has evolved so incredibly since we first had our home computers in the 90s. As I am typing at this laptop, I wonder how many people still even have a desktop computer, or if they also decided to ditch the computer case and opt for the more lightweight, convenient, wireless, mouseless, portable digital notebook.

But what happens to all the technology that no longer serves us any purpose? The floppy disks, the fax machines, the Nokia mobile phones? What about the VHS tapes, collecting dust, awaiting their transformation into video files or DVDs, at least?

Great artists have a way of taking ordinary objects and creating passion and poetry out of them. At the Human Connection exhibition in London’s Opera Gallery, you can find the home of some retired technology that has been transformed into thought-provoking artwork. The artist, Nicholas Gentry, uses old floppy disks and videotapes to create beautiful, shimmering portaits. Gentry encourages people on social media to send him their outdated digital artifacts.

The art merges so many ideas like technology, humanity, identity, time, memory, community, and intelligence. In a time when technology has changed so much and will continue to do so, the exhibit really inspires onlookers to see themselves and all that their minds contain in those portraits.