God has plenty of time (creation story)
This project was inspired by the song by the band Timesquare - God has a lot of time, you can listen to it here, and the lyrics (translate) below:
Scream.
No one needs you to scream anyway.
The whole world
You've learned to seem smart, but you've become deaf.
Garbage in the screen
Every morning
New fake news without end
Don't think, it's not cool to think
It's all done for you
We're erasing the buttons on the remote
Wasting time
But what happens tomorrow?
What's tomorrow?
What will happen to us tomorrow?
We're dancing on other people's bones, forgetting ourselves.
Chorus:
Rivers will divide
The seas will die
The lights will go out at the raves.
We'll keep on believing
God's got plenty of time
Plenty of time
Wake up
Your dreams will be dull before they're matured
The whole world
Replaced those dreams with a fancy neural net.
Bread and vines ♪
The veins demand it
Idiocracy rules the day
Don't have to think
Thinking is not a trend
The web knows what you've been dreaming of
We used to spend our days living on someone else's walls.
But where is that time? Where is that time? Where's that time now?
We borrow it to kill ourselves
Chorus (1x)
...The television screen is the retina of the mind's eye.
Therefore, the television screen is part of the physical structure of the brain.
Whatever appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who watch it...
Chorus (2x)
Actually, it was with this song that my acquaintance with this band began, a special respect to the guys for making quality music with meaning!
By the way, for the last 2 years I have been thinking that I want to make photo/video projects, which will carry a certain message to people, the way I see the world.
I decided to do an experiment and run the lyrics of the song in GPT chat and asked him what it was about.
The interpretation of the song may vary from listener to listener, as everyone puts their own feelings and experiences into the words and music. However, based on the lyrics presented, some general conclusions can be drawn.
Criticism of modern society: The song expresses concerns about the modern world and our behavior in it. There is a reference to the constant stream of 'fake news' that we are bombarded with every morning and the fact that we don't have to think because 'everything has already been done for us'. This may point to the problems of media manipulation and depersonalization of the individual in popular culture.
Losing Time: There is a reference in the song to the fact that we "erase the buttons on the remote control, stupidly wasting time." This may reflect the idea of how much time we spend passively consuming content, forgetting our own self-development and the value of time.
Faith in the future: The song suggests that despite all the problems and crises, we continue to believe that "God has plenty of time". This can be interpreted as hope for a better future or as a criticism of a passive approach to solving problems, where we rely on a higher power instead of taking active action.
Overall, the song seems to be a critical look at modern society and our role in it. It encourages us to wake up and start actively participating in our lives instead of passively observing them.
I then asked them to generate me some subjects that depict the meaning of this song, and to do so in a way that I could depict it as a photograph.
The subjects were quite banal, I experimented with the requests and eventually the chat was able to offer me some funny ideas, of which one I really liked, so I took it as a basis and decided to "finalize" it.
The plot is from chat GPT, which I enjoyed:
Reality Checkmate: A photo of a person playing chess with a mannequin, where all the pieces on the board have been replaced by app icons. It is an ironic depiction of our daily "gaming" interaction with technology.
After the ideas were generated, it was as if I came to the realization that the songwriters (although, it's not a fact, maybe it's purely my imagination, but I'd like to believe I guessed) meant by the word "God" - a human being.
We - humans, to such an extent have lost the sense that our life is finite and sooner or later we will pass away, that we consider ourselves immortal = God status. As a consequence, we spend the most valuable thing we have - time, on all sorts of unnecessary shit. That's why it was decided that it is necessary to depict a human being in the image of God.
What do we see in the first frame?
Two people (or rather the same person, just in different appearances) are playing chess. The image of God (the one on the right) represents the inner world of the person, while the image of a fashion-conscious individual (the one on the left) represents the external manifestation of the person.
The chessboard represents our life, and the chess pieces symbolize the actions we take. These actions vary in significance and scale, just like the roles of the chess pieces. There are minor, everyday actions (pawns) and more significant ones, where a person strives to leave a mark, to inscribe their name in history (pieces with larger actions).
What we see in the first frame is our acquaintance with the modern person. I want to note that I am not generalizing but reflecting a tendency that has been developing in recent years. We spend our time exploring the external world but neglect the internal one. Is it worth mentioning that now social media metrics have become the main indicator of one's 'coolness'?
All this takes place against a white background. The choice of a white background here is deliberate. Personally, I believe that one way or another, we are all confined to a matrix. The reference is self-explanatory, I believe.
As we get to know a person better, we begin to understand them more. In the second frame, there is an interesting detail. The row with the main chess pieces is replaced by a row of pawns. This is a reference to the fact that the first impression of a person can be deceiving, and someone who may have seemed like a God-like figure (in terms of their intentions and actions) is, in fact, not significantly different from an average person.
On the next frame, the person has made a choice in favor of a certain action. By the expression on his face, we can tell that this choice does not bring him much pleasure.
Indeed, on this frame, the theme continues to explore the idea that when we get to know a person better, we may discover that behind their external appearances, they lack substance and depth. The mannequin symbolizes the inner emptiness and shallowness of the person. It no longer matters which chess pieces are on the board, as they hold no weight or significance. The emptiness within the person renders any actions or choices meaningless.
The final frame. The person eventually made a choice and once again spent their time on what the external world imposed on them.
Here, logos of social media platforms, information technologies, media, fast food, and pharmaceuticals are touched upon as well. The most attentive ones will be able to see a QR code on one of the squares. It is a link to the track that inspired me to create this artwork.
Despite the overall theme of the series not being that joyful, I left the last row empty, I think it's clear why...