Technology+Has+Taken+Over


 * Technology Has Taken Over ** **By: Emily Vogt **



Literary Artist Statement:

 Since the beginning of technological creation, man has been seeking to create electronics that are newer, better and more innovative. This quest has caused engineers and creators from around the world to become obsessed with their job in creating something that can one-up what the latest creation. Their obsession has in some sense caused these men and women to transform into clones and soon become “hung” by their job and thirst to invent the next best thing. In my box, I chose to disassemble an old touch screen, full keyboard phone and an old personal radio to reveal the internal hard drives. I used these hard drives in my design to represent the strain that is placed on the technological innovators. This is shown by the intricate and confusing designs on each face of the hard drive. They appear to be misleading, but at the same time quite simple. I chose to place all of the screws that held the phone and radio into a jar with the lid slightly open to resemble all of the technological advances that have yet to be discovered. The quarter placed on top of the open jar is there to symbolize the immense funds that it will take and has taken for inventors to create all of the new electronics. The protagonist of this work is the small doll that is being hung by a headphone cord. She is suspended over the hard drives to represent how technology has consumed the lives and focuses of man. All man wants to do in this day and age is to create the new “it” thing in the technological world. Also, using a child’s toy to be suspended over the technology represents how the toys that children are brought up with like dolls, trucks, and legos have been replaced by electronics like the game boy and iPod. The transformation that the technological innovators go through can be paralleled to the transformation of Gregor Samsa in Franz Kafka’s __The Metamorphosis.__ In this novel, Gregor is a traveling salesman who works constantly to support and pay off the debts his parents and younger sister. The stress and strain of his job causes Gregor to turn into a life size bug that is said to resemble a dung beetle. This transformation resembles that of the technological innovators because when they become consumed with creating new electronics they also become transformed. Their focus is no longer on living a life of freedom and happiness, but now their focus is on creating the next best thing in the technological world.