Unclaimed Landscapes is a series of generative artworks varied on noise algorithms. These are monochrome abstract landscapes influenced by the concept of “mind landscape” which is a cultivated landscape burgeoned in the time of the Yuan dynasty. In this classical Chinese tradition, abstract landscapes are created as a mirror of the artist’s heart and mind; and have no relation to the visible world.[i] The generative landscapes are produced with the same concerns but with modern computational techniques; composed with randomness. The search is for a place where the mind stays away from the chaos of images and associations.

The simplified, blurry mountain forms of Unclaimed Landscaped is highly influenced by the ink and wash [shui mo hua] technique, which was invented during the Tang dynasty. In the East Asian philosophy on aesthetics of ink and wash painting, the aim was not simply to reproduce the appearance of the subject, but to capture its spirit.[ii] In the same manner, the work carries some characteristics of later Western art movements, specifically Impressionism, with the emphasis on a depiction of the changing qualities of light and movement as a crucial element of human consciousness. In Unclaimed Landscapes, the sense of the sublime from a human perspective is synthesized together with the movement and transience of the mountains and the earth.

Ink painting was also associated with the Chân or Zen sect of Buddhism, which emphasizes simplicity, spontaneity and self-expression.[iii] In Unclaimed Landscapes,the mountains are constructed by randomized numbers that are calculated instantly. This technique reinterprets spontaneity in a digital manner by creating a composition based on instant computational memory that positions itself against data structures and tracking algorithms. In other words, it creates a virtual place where the mind can rest away from being monitored and exposed.

Ink paintings are asymmetrical and contain a large proportion of empty space. This reflects the need of space away from chaos, for the Chinese poets and painters who retreated to the mountains after the fall of the Tang Dynasty. Back in that era, in a reality dominated by chaos and war, humans could still escape to the mountains.

But where would the escape be in the hyper-real world all around us? French philosopher Jean Baudrillard in his controversial essay The Gulf war did not take place, states that “…the war is not measured by being unleashed but its speculative unfolding in an abstract, electronic and informational space…” (1995, p. 56). This does not mean that the war is not real in the sense of not having ‘actual’ consequences. Rather, he points out the collapses, depressions and crisis that are virtual; misinformation is being used as a weapon of mass destruction.

The hyperreal is digitalized and networked; therefore constructs a common, interconnected reality and shared existence. The experience offered by technology, the realm of the computer and media, constantly distracts individuals. They become addicted to the ecstasies of the hyperreal and they desire to escape from the ‘desert of the real'. The non-linear structure of social media creates an overwhelming flux of images. Added to this chaos in recent years is the circumstance of censorship and surveillance controlled by algorithms.

Continuously being exposed to images and information, one often lacks the time or mental capacity to filter and analyze all this non-stop input, so that the subject become mere entities influenced by media and the technological experience.[iv] In the chaos of meanings and images; as Baudrillard states in his article The Ecstasy of Communication, “the unclean promiscuity of everything which touches, invests and penetrates without resistance” without any private protection, the mind becomes vulnerable and confused.

Unclaimed Landscape is created with the search of space beyond the blurred boundaries between the massive connectivity. It is a retreat from a war of the mind; the lands of survelliance and ostracism.

Peki etrafımızı sarmış olan hiper-gerçek dünyadan kaçış nereye olabilir? Fransız düşünür Jean Baudrillard, The Gulf war did not take place adlı tartışmalı metninde, savaşın sadece başlatılmış olmasıyla değil fakat soyut, elektronik ve enformasyonel bir alandaki spekülatif yayılımıyla ölçülmesi gerektiğini iddia eder. (1995, p. 56) Bu, savaşın ‘fiili’ sonuçları olmadığı anlamına gelmez, tersine, düşüşlerin, çöküntülerin ve krizlerin sanal olduğuna; çarpıtılmış bilginin bir kitlesel silah olarak kullanıldığına işaret etmektedir.

Hiper-gerçek, dijitalleştirilmiş ve ağ-bağlantılıdır; bu sebeple birbirine bağlı, müşterek bir gerçeklik ve varoluş inşa etmektedir. Teknolojinin sunduğu deneyimler, bilgisayar ve medya alemi sürekli insanların zihnini dağıtır. İnsanları hiper-gerçeğin zevklerine bağımlı kılar ve arzularını ‘gerçekliğin çölünden’ kaçışa doğru yöneltir. Sosyal medyanın çizgisel olmayan yapısı bunaltıcı bir imge akışı yaratır. Son yıllarda bu kaosa, algoritma temelli sansür ve gözetleme mekanizmaları da dahil oluyor.

Sürekli imge ve bilgi akışına maruz kalan kişi çoğunlukla onları filtrelemek ve değerlendirmek için gerekli zamana ya da zihinsel kapasiteye sahip değildir. Böylece insan, medya ve teknolojik deneyim tarafından etki altına alınmış bir varlıktan ibaret kalır.[iv] Anlam ve imge kaosu içinde; Baudrillard’ın The Ecstasy of Communication metninde bahsettiği gibi, ‘direnmeden dokunan, kuşatan, nüfuz eden her şeyin pis gelişigüzelliği’, hiçbir kişisel koruma olmadığında zihin savunmasız ve sersemlemiş halde kalır.

Sahipsiz Manzaralar günümüzün sınırları aşınmış büyük bağlantısallığının ötesinde bir alan arayışıdır. Zihnin savaşından; gözetlenme ve toplumsal sürgünden uzak bir inzivadır.

Çeviri: Rana Kelleci