Adomas Žudys
Conspiraton and excavation as critique of modernity
The process of oak root system excavation, and time spent listening to stories online about conspiracy theories provides a point of departure and contextual material for the investigation of contemporary predicament. Research is an exploration of contemporary imagination and creation of tools for it's investigation: Wooden Computer - investigating origins of cybernetics, Memory Fighter Jet - investigation of ancient art of memory palaces, Giant Instrument - meme-playing-machine reflecting contemporary epistemological shock, S**** Game - virtual/board/survival game based on research associations & Rosette - panoramic worldview image as schema, with oak roots as a centerpiece.
Dimming of the modern worldview is illustrated by the spread of conspiracy theories. Examples of magical thinking proliferating in the contemporary media landscape indicate the feeling of need for radical imagination. The time is ripe for novel ways of understanding the world by investigating modern and archaic epistemological tools.
Projection of the information found online onto the unearthed object will be translated and interpreted within academic framework with two approaches: hermeneutics and phenomenology - done with respect to deep-rooted origins of storytelling and without bias, it is an attempt to interpret contemporary worldview and how it affects our experience. The research will attempt to define the undefinable - alchemical black - for w(h)itch oak root system is a stand-in.
The research aims to provide academically legitimate methods for investigating what is considered to be beyond "polite discourse" and to "marry the opposites" - synthesis between theory and praxis, between fact and fiction, flat and round - poiesis, faction, torus.
