Virginia Valdes

 
CarbonizedCarbonized
2:36 minutes
CONCERNING NATURE 2002
3 channel video projection, archival digital collage cprints


What is our relation to our environment? Are we losing the connection with ourselves? Why does breathing fresh air, running through an open field, or jumping into a fresh water pond seem like a luxury we can only afford every so often? Are we slowly alienating ourselves from our natural environment?

The triad of videos come from a non-narrative sensibility pushing the individual outside of this world and into another dimension that is familiar, yet unnatural in context. Using video, photography, clip art, 3d imaging and music, I create a space that lies between the subconscious and the virtual world. Playing with ideas based on time, travel, advertising and our consumption with technology, the conflict between man and the world he has created for himself emerges. The viewer needs to listen to what is being said throughout the pieces to understand the underlying psychosis which results from a world controlled more and more by greed, speed, conformism and technology and is the direct cause of modern desperation and stress.

Are we emotionally displaced within our technological world, and eventually trapped inside an infinite struggle for success. In this absence of nature I address the construction of a world of conveniences ultimately constricting man by destroying the link with a more natural environment and psyche. Will a virtual world replace the natural environment for the mass of consumers that will constitute this new order? Will we be able to make the distinction between what is real and what isn’t? How do we define 'real'?