Virtual Landscapes | Stepan Ryabchenko
Virtual Landscapes online exhibition
Stepan Ryabchenko : Exhibition Statement.
We consider that which is the smallest part of life to be so distant that we hold no relationship with it. The smallest living particle is not even considered a life form. And yet, our relationship with it is profound. A virus can change the course of human existence and is so small we may not even consider it part of our immediate natural environment.
In virtual space, “nature” can be redefined. Elements can be reconstructed, repositioned, reinterpreted, providing endless possibilities making the virtual very real. Science and Art are both interpretations of nature, our nature, our environments, and relationships with each of these. As we consider any past, we must consider the present and acknowledge it as a past for any future. So, as we are present in the future of our own past, we are also living in the history of our own future.
Through this “Virtual Landscapes” exhibition of Stepan Ryabchenko, the curator has been struck wondering if the future might have its lens focused toward this moment. Imagine, virtual technology and advanced science looking at human history, myth, our relationships to the physical world. And we are looking right back at it. How we relate to this question of time and space, to life and resonance, to our own seeds of empathy and compassion, to the forces of life and light which we all imbue, may be the most compelling reminder that we are all virtual expressions, contrasts of light, of mass, density and form.
Did future technology come from a distant past? Are we looking in the right direction? Is this present moment a virtual composite of every piece of coded information and wisdom compiled and transposed across space and time? We are living on the cusp of a new virtual history. Are we doing all that we can to carry the message of our humanity forward, to ensure our survival?.
