Sean Dempsey

Digital Self

Digital Self is a work which utilises hardware and software as an exploration of the shaping of the self in a world where the digital impinges on being.

The work consists of a weight which looms above a running server. The server is connected to several computers below, displaying images of the artist. The server runs an algorithm which progressively destroys the integrity of the image files until the files become invalid. When the symbolic act of the destruction of the images of the artist are virtually obliterated, the weight falls physically obliterating the server.

The piece explores the effect of the digital on the concept of self and otherness even in the "offline" reality. The ephemeral nature of the piece reflects the nature of self and of Being, and meditates on the invisible danger and propaganda which can be perpetrated by the digital.