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Container or music series
Planet Obsolescence
Wellington 2019
Erica Sklenars, Nikolai Sim
Planet Obsolescence reimagines afterlifes for obsolete technology. This audio-visual experiment in low-fi hacking uses electronic waste in an exercise of controlled information, re-purposing a wall of LCD screens to have content visible only when one of two special headsets are worn.
All LCD screens used within the work are recycled from electronic waste facilities, and are converted or ‘hacked’ by the artists, to conceal their content to the naked eye. The work explores human relationships to technology, most specifically the ‘screen’ – as tool for communication and censorship, voyeurism and surveillance, and a means of distorting and augmenting perceptions of reality. Content can be affected by the audience, encouraging light hearted play amongst the viewers, while continuing to immerse them in the reality of ever-growing environmental concerns due to planned obsolescence and exponential development.
Erica Sklenars is a New Zealand based artist working across the fields of video art, installation, performance and intervention. Her practice is often collaborative, and explores modes of communication amongst various social groups and new media, as well as DIY adaptation or hacking of technology.
Sklenars regularly collaborates with musicians and sound artists under the name Lady Lazer Light, and exhibits and tours at galleries, festivals and music venues throughout New Zealand, Asia, and Europe. Sklenars has an MFA from Massey University and currently lives and works in Dunedin, NZ.
Nikolai Sim is a musician, audio visual and installation artist based in Dunedin, NZ. His work often employs large scale installation and unorthodox means of presentation/production to promote deeper engagement with the abstract narratives and concepts present within the works. Sim often works as a sound designer in collaboration with visual artists, and is also a member of the synth based group Élan Vital and performs solo experimental hardware electronic dance sets as Kolya.
Funded by Creative NZ Creative Communities / Supported Wellington City Council Public Art Fund
