Fitter, Happier, and More Productive

EDITION

2022, Shortlisted

school

Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Utrecht,
The Netherlands

In the first years of my life, I did not use the Internet and three-dimensional virtual worlds. Everything took place in the physical world. Slowly, an increasing part of my life began to take place in a virtual online environment. Playing on the street corner turned into playing in an online videogame. Friends turned into digital avatars. Staring at the ceiling turned into endless scrolling. In “Fitter, Happier, and More Productive,” I use the aesthetics and technology of a dystopian virtual world to look back on my Internet and screenless years. Using photography and CGI (computer-generated imagery), two media based on the physical and the virtual world, I reconstruct locations and experiences from my childhood. A time full of fantasy, boredom, and tactility. This combination results in hyperreal imagery, in which the difference between photography and CGI almost disappears.

In “Fitter, Happier, and More Productive,” I question the value of virtual environments like VRChat and Second Life. What is the future of fantasy and play in a virtual world? How has the virtual world changed my experience of the physical world?

During the HKU Photography graduation show in BAK (Basis voor actuele Kunst), I presented the project as a mixed media installation using prints, a projection, and various light boxes. The light boxes vary in size and refer to the rapid development of the screens around us.