DATAMORPHOSIS 2024
A monumental paper installation created during a one-month residency in Lucca, Tuscany, as part of the OutDoor LUCCA BIENNALE CARTASIA section, marking the 20th anniversary of this world’s largest paper biennial. The installation is 4 meters high, 2.5 meters wide, and was installed in the historic center of Lucca, in the San Gervasio Gate, from July through the end of September 2024.
“Datamorphosis” depicts the loss of self within the virtual labyrinth of post-truth and new AI technologies. The installation is open to interpretation. It poses the questions: Where does our attention lie today in the context of Artificial Intelligence?
Does entanglement in the cocoon of virtual reality and social media limit and isolate our functioning in the real world?
Or, on the contrary, does it open us up to a new form of existence that has access to all data?
Perhaps with the advent of the AI era, we are in the process of transforming into hybrid beings within a networked database.
The installation was created during an artist residency in Italy, where it received the Outdoor Competition Award 2024 at the 12th edition of the Lucca Biennale Cartasia.
Katarzyna Łyszkowska – Lucca Biennale Cartasia
Today, as never before, reality generates new challenges. Especially now, in a world dominated by all-embracing capitalism, the irreversible effects of natural resource exploitation and global warming, our well-being is suffering from depression, affected by wars, conflicts and the recent pandemic.
The world is torn between two Realities: the Real one and the Virtual. Art is a mirror of the continually transforming world. As a finalist in the Outdoor section, I address the thread of Datamorphosis – a project created during my month-long residency, questioning where our attention is today.
In my other projects, like the Fiscal Mandala or House of Cards, I redefine the utilitarian character of paper, giving it the role of a carrier of substantial meanings. The paper gives me the opportunity to materialise ephemeral ideas in the Real world.