"We all live in a world strikingly similar to the original, in which everything is duplicated according to a script – Simulacrum" said Jean Baudrillard. To live in this world, people do not have to look at each other; why if we have screens? Do not have to touch each other, if we have mannequins in shop windows. People do not walk anymore, but instead make a recurrent jog, bringing the physiology in line with what the advertising brochure told them about.  If Baudrillard is right, then we are made up of Simulacrum and without realising it we are becoming a copy of the "perfect human" from the advertisement. This should give our lives a sense and elevate us in the eyes of others.

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"The world of winning marketing has turned us into a memorable device" thought Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu's thought is represented in my painting as MEME figures, in other words, copies. Today, these figures appear everywhere - in films, pop music, advertising, fashion, social media - the "perfect human" should be rich, successful, beautiful and should live a fast life. And we believe in it because we see that, in the digital universe, the number of followers promises success. Life outside this system seems to be impossible. Paradoxically it is easier for us to accept the system and choose to be an abstract individual. In the global system the billions of people lead almost the same life every day. This thought is somehow astounding and, at the same time, fascinating. 

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Stanislaw Lem claimed that: "When a device is constructed that can upgrade intelligence, there will be a demand for downgrading." And then, in the words of Stephen Hawking, "the creation of artificial intelligence may be humanity's last technological achievement, unless we learn to control risk". We are amazed at what we have created, but still try to preserve our humanity in all its aspects in everyday life. The boundaries between physical presence and spiritual absence are becoming increasingly blurred: Is it a biological object or an avatar?; Is it a photograph or a CGI? It is becoming apparent that the most powerful machine of all time is changing the earlier biographical, cultural and spiritual categories and allowing us to create the object of embodiment of all human needs.

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Friedrich Nietzsche had been racking his brains very pertinently long before the age of abundance: "the thirst for the gorgeous show, instead of the comprehension of meanings, turns us into bad copies made on bad paper from erased negatives". At this time this belief seemed strange, but today it seems that "turning us into copies" will not be reversed any time soon. After all, a bright online life generates euphoria, a sense of joy and gives us the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. On the contrary, contemplative life seems less interesting. Nevertheless, contemplative life, sweeping away clichés, liberates a life that people have turned into a prison, and then gives us a chance to become an individual again. 

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"We have long become a shell to digital interfaces, instead of breathing presence" said Paul Virilio. It's difficult to disagree with his statement, because everything from smooth and shimmering screens looks extremely interesting for us. And we are an audience to whom the information is imposed in connection with the financial interests. The fascinating apps seem to be free and funny. They keep us entertained and enable us to be the centre of attention, the centre where nothing really happens. The future belongs to digital technology, but what place will human take in the age of virtuality and technological process?

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Olga Georgitsia

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