Spooks

Spooks, 2021
Duration: 02:26 (Loop)
Single channel Video
Audio: Golden Hits of Hawaii, The Outriggers © Kahn-Blaufuss, My Isle of Golden Dreams, 1964

Within the digital universe, is the GIF file. A MEME of connective tissue, it is easily made, replicated and shared through social media. It has inadvertently become an ephemeral means of social bonding, wherein visual snatches of everyday life, operating within infinite moments of repetitive gestures, and gaffes, are created in hoped for recognition through remunerative clicks, downloads, and widespread monetization.

In reflecting on the GIF, and the economies in which it is embedded, I borrowed text from the book “The Road to Unfreedom” (by historian Timothy Snyder) and in eliminating most of the words from the chapter’s first page, the dictum becomes almost Buddhist in its reflection.