Philosophy, mythology, fantasy and ancient cultures from around the world are steeped in stories and figures that are often similar to one other. The creator Demiurge is certainly one of these: from the God Eru Ilúvatar and the Ainur born from his own thought, to the artisan creator-thinker anticipated centuries before by the great philosopher Plato. Regardless of the different cultures and centuries of the history of Man, the mystical or material act of the creation of the World has been attributed to the power of thought of a Creator, to his creative will, to the strength of his words and to the atavistic energy of one of his forms of expressive art. In realizing The Seeker, the English artist Nye Thompson was inspired by one of these figures, the ancient god/artist Ptah-Seker who, according to the Egyptians, generated the world through the words he used to describe it. But The Seeker was born in the post-digital era, where the flow of information passes through the media and through Big Brother’s eyes. Thousands and thousands of eyes all over the world are inadvertently made available by unprotected surveillance cameras. From these Thompson draws images, stories and points of view that, although they are part of the World, are not part of the common domain. The artist, already known for his research on the relationship between the embodied and the virtual, tries to reveal the visual capacity of the physical and virtual internet, inviting us on a journey without limits and boundaries, in which, while showing beautiful or banal things, we are invited to reflect on the – very serious – theme of video surveillance. Benedetta Sabatini

 

Nye Thompson – I am the Seeker