Alternating Current
At the core of Alternating Current lies the concept of emergence — the spontaneous formation of social structures, norms, and behaviors through interaction. This phenomenon, central to both sociology and systems theory, highlights how individual actions give rise to complex, often unpredictable collective patterns. While emergence can manifest in stable societal structures, it also fuels disruption, social movements, and technological shifts. The series explores these dynamics, focusing on the interplay between analog and digital realities, the fragmentation of perception, and the increasingly mediated nature of human experience.
A key theme in the work is the influence of digitality on contemporary society—its technocratic tendencies and the way technology shapes memory, identity, and communication. This is reflected in the subject matter, where abstract compositions of neural network diagrams, distorted human figures, and mechanical schematics suggest the tension between organic and artificial intelligence, individual agency and systemic control. By incorporating fragmented representations of the human body, the work also speaks to the erosion of personal identity within algorithmic structures and social networks.
Materially, Alternating Current consists of abstract paintings on upcycled boards and canvas, interwoven with elements of urban debris—building rubble, cabling, and other discarded remnants of the built environment. Printmaking techniques such as xerox transfer, overhead printing, and monotype are layered with acrylic paint, creating a palimpsest of textures that blur the line between digital and analog mark-making. This contrast is central to the work, underscoring the tension between physicality and digital abstraction, presence and absence, tactility and simulation.
The final installation assembles these individual pieces into a singular sculptural object, reinforcing the concept of emergent meaning. Just as digital networks or social structures gain significance through interconnection, the fragmented elements of the series coalesce into a larger whole, where relationships between forms, materials, and themes become visible only in their collective arrangement. The work ultimately invites viewers to consider their own position within this oscillation between the physical and the virtual, the organic and the constructed, the real and the simulated.
The creation of this work was supported by the Bratislava City Foundation from public funds.
