SHUT UP, INTERNET!
Suchitra Gahlot (Born 1977, India)

Modernity has had an undeniable impact on the perception we have of ourselves and of the world that surrounds us.

The social map that each of us has created in a lifetime, albeit unknowingly, quantifies the people who have touched us and creates a web of heretofore-invisible threads. Alerted into submission by our permanent state of responsiveness to every beep and buzz, we are no different from the devices we own and have found ourselves, in reciprocal ownership of each other.

The suspended jars, seemingly self-contained cells of chaos, are reflective of the artist’s own struggles with digital living. Forty thousand emails dating from 1995 are torn to shreds and fly to a controlled turbulence within each jar.

Throughout history, always simultaneous with technological change and revolution, proposals both paradoxical and philosophical have been brought forward to request deceleration in order to appreciate progress. In their current form, we see the outlines of a ‘Slow Internet’ movement.

Part of our zeitgeist, gadgets have become our main instruments to live, love and work. The slightest hint of non-conformance can lead to being labelled a Neo-Luddite. Speaking ill of the Internet or waxing nostalgic about the smell of old paper may seem contrived. A choice to not have an online and public identity can be interpreted as reactionary.

If the Internet is the loudest voice of our generation, then it begs an equal and opposite reaction to maintain a sense of balance. It is not an anti-technological stance. It is one that is pro-human.

Shut Up, Internet! 2013
Glass, Paper, Metal, Blower Fans and Assorted Circuitry. Dimensions variable. Edition of five. Twenty jars per edition.

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