2023
one more before i sleep...
One More Before I Sleep...
The multi-layered work "One More Before I Sleep..." is an artistic research project that continues the artist's study of the influence of social networks on individual mental processes. In this context, the artist has worked extensively with memory, and in the case of this new work, she explores dreams.
As a test subject of the research, she watched short video content on selected social networks for a long time before going to sleep. In the morning, she transferred the images she had extracted from her dreams in watercolour technique onto the sheets on which she had slept. She repeated the process on a new fabric each time. As the artist has experienced first-hand, these platforms analyse the online habits and behaviour of their users, and their algorithms ensure that the content is selected in a way that best engages the viewer and keeps them on the app. Short content acts as a kind of treat for our brains, potentially risking uncontrolled (excessive) consumption and affecting the quality of our sleep.
The artist has divided the content she has been exposed to into five categories. Each of them corresponds to a specific (basic) emotion or feeling that is triggered in the viewer when watching. In showing her dream, she focused only on a detail or "frame" that reminded her of the content she had seen the previous evening. The resulting paintings are characterised by an unusual colour palette, strong contrasts between cool and warm colours and blurred contours that speak of a world that does not reflect immediate reality.
The artist has used the gallery's window panes for her installation. She turned them into interfaces on which we read the content. Each window represents one work. Smartphone screens are also replicated in a series of visual cues that accompany the use of the apps - from "like" buttons to profile names or scroll arrows. By providing additional information, the artist invites passers-by to decipher specific categories of content and thus take a more active role in their relationship to the work.
"One More Before I Sleep ..." encourages visitors to self-reflect and think deeply when using social networks. In this context, the artist addresses the issue of online privacy and transparency of terms and conditions, and talks about our consent to participate as guinea pigs in the creation of the many free applications available to us in the modern world. It therefore highlights the issues raised by the rapid development of technology, including its market orientation - the existence of sophisticated market mechanisms that aggressively invade individuals' personal space, even our dreams.
Text from exhibition "One More Before I Sleep...", Gallery Nočna izložba Pešak, KUD Mreža, curated by Anabel Černohorski, 2023, Ljubljana