COMPLEX INTERACTION Tabita Rezaire and the Materiality of The Digital BY ELI STÅHL
The digital is an arbitrary category. In everyday speech, it is sometimes used as an opposition to the material: a digital copy, artwork or exhibition versus a material one. The digital is presented as something existing outside of the material realm and the history and politics thereof; an apolitical utopia that does not hold the same accountability as the “real world.” However, the line between the digital and the so-called real is constantly blurred if it ever existed in the first place. “Our wireless life is very much wired,” as Guinea-based artist Tabita Rezaire points out in her video work Deep Down Tidal (2017), in which she explores the racialized materiality of the internet. Galleries’ and museums’ use of online exhibition platforms and the digitization of museum collections have been accelerated over the past couple of years by technological advancements as well as lockdowns that have made accessing “regular,” in-person shows difficult and at times even impossible. In many instances, the digitization of content has made it more accessible across varying access needs and financial situations—a much-welcomed change to increasingly privatized and commercialized art institutions. Another recent digital tendency within the art world is NFTs. Although they have existed since 2014, non-fungible tokens (NFT) became commonly known last year when an NFT artwork was sold for as much as $91.8 million, gaining international media attention. Surrounding both digital exhibitions, collections and artworks, such as NFTs, is a discourse of immateriality. However, critics have also pointed out how NFTs specifically—which rely on blockchain technology—are polluting the atmosphere due to their high electricity use, as they require extensive “mining” done by computers. The smooth interface and minimal hardware that the user engages with—be it a smartphone, laptop or tablet—may create the illusion that whatever takes place digitally has a minimal physical presence and impact but in fact it is estimated by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency that digital technology consumes 10% of the world’s electricity, and that if the internet was a country, it would be the third largest consumer of electricity, following China and the US. The internet is created in fiber optic cables, lying on the seabed. Around 60% of the world’s population is counted as active users of the internet but many don’t realize the physical aspects of this quotidian phenomenon.
DEEP DOWN TIDAL
In the opening scene of Tabita Rezaire’s video work Deep Down Tidal, a person floating on a cloud in outer space is having an amicable phone conversation stating they have been banned from Facebook for posting that white people should give them back their land. This comedic opening portrays an absurd reality of political censorship of marginalized people on social media. The songs playing from the phone speakers are in various languages and originate from different parts of the globe, referencing the international nature of the internet. The video, which is a collage of popular cultural references, Google searches, satellite images, the phone conversation, a voice-over and more, explores the connection between the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the internet; the racist history and present of the internet and its materiality.
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