OUR VOICES ARE MUTED, AS if WE ARE SPEAKING THROUGH FELT (2014)
Electroluminescence, PVC, electronics, Polycarbonate, Aluminium, Acrylic
240 x 140 x 90 cm. Sound: Nick Wilsdon
EXHIBITED AT CASULA POWERHOUSE ART CENTRE IN SUBJECT TO RUIN CURATED BY ADAM PORTER 2014 WESTERN SYDNEY
In this scrambled mess of wires, sounds and soft light, we contemplate the nature of communication in the internet age and the physicality of the machinery that houses it.
Barclay has covered the inside of a series of pipes with electroluminescence and mounted them to a mirror. Glancing into each pipe, we might consider a different story between two people, or a different idea, both complicated and endless. The machine functions as a song to love online. The space this occupies both in the imagination and the physical nature of its data storage.
"In the plethora of machines and cables, we might think about the nature of data storage facilities." Notes Barclay, "The memories, images, diaries, romances, hopes and desires that we upload to cloud technologies physically exist on disks in hidden, humanless server farms hidden. Popping up all over the world to satiate our exponential need for data."