E-ME

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"Virtual space, a place to stay or to be?”

We live in a perfect society, populated by perfect people. They flaunt a bright smile, are beautiful, know no flaws. Self-sufficient, they have gloriously shed every weakness for shared enjoyment. Happiness has taken the form of a virtual heart: this is what defines who we are, how much we are worth, and the attention we deserve. The disproportionate increase in individualism and the loss of real human contact is a characteristic of the contemporary age. We possess a digital subconscious, trapped in a flashy and fascinating narcissistic mask that betrays our true identity. We delude ourselves into creating relationships, weaving a web of filters into people's lives, remaining trapped in our own 'Social ego'. Media act as amplifiers of the self where man becomes the unwitting servant of his own superstructure. Aristotle's axiom that sees man as a social animal is annihilated by the closure of the ego. It's an ego exalted by the dialogue with oneself, by the satisfaction of being admired by a following of ghosts; but at the same time, it's an ego offended, prostrated, reduced to a fleeting image flashing on a screen. Is this truly all we are? We are connected with everyone, but we have lost the sociability of interaction with others; communication is our creed, but we avoid meeting each other's gaze; we promote experiences, but we are confined to a room, and we are convinced that this is enough for us. The underlying idea of the exhibition is to explore the permeable boundaries of a concept that is a constitutive characteristic of our BEING in the world. 'Onlife ergo sum' is the modern assumption of an existence bent to the repetitive vacuity of a binary code. An ego dissolved in a river of bits, where humanity is an accessory impediment. An ego without me."