the circuit
We began with the following questions: What happens if/when our world becomes overrun by misinformation? When the media is monopolised by billionaires, and verifiable facts become scarce? In such an environment, bias overwhelms, polarisation is exacerbated, and the value of journalism and documentary work becomes more critical than ever.
The Circuit envisions a network of ad-hoc, at-home, analogue communication systems designed to resist surveillance and data tracking: a clandestine community of individuals building make-shift transmitters, radio stations, TV antennae, data receivers, cameras, and recording devices. Its members are nestled in the attics of London, as high above ground as possible, for the best signal, undetected. Their stations are gritty and raw, packed with wires, hijacked generators, fizzing fuse boxes, dials, salvaged keyboards, and other obsolete gadgets rewired, reconnected, deconstructed and reconstructed into innominate inventions.
Our guiding principle, "communication as object," led us to study the histories of television, pirate radio, telephony, and the printing press, alongside documentary photography, journalism, and underground publishing movements-particularly George Maciunas' Fluxus of the 1960s and 1970s. The Circuit is all about up-cycling and re-learning how to perceive function in the forgotten.
The Spare Parts Log-book, is a publication that functions as a crowd-sourced catalog/directory for spare parts. I collected images from online public domain archives, individuals who have shared pictures of dismantled technology out of curiosity.
Consequently, my practice has shifted toward greater sustainability and material awareness. We hope to inspire audiences - both contemporary individuals on the brink of an Al revolution and hypothetical future dwellers in 2074 - to reflect on their relationships with technology, communication, community, and truth, fostering resourcefulness and optimism.
A collaboration with Emily Stirling.
@emgrafiks