Truth DeQay

<Truth DeQay> is a response to the social media algorithms that give oxygen to those who peddle in conspiracy. 

Central to <Truth DeQay> is the  question; “Where do we get our knowledge and how reliable is it?”

Social media algorithms don’t distinguish between truth and untruth, or fact from fiction. They push users into rabbit holes while Big Tech capitalizes on the users’ digital profiles. A business model described as “surveillance capitalism”.

The chilling effect of this algorithmic prescribed “truth” was laid bare during the early stages of the pandemic, when social media use increased by over 50%.  A scientific study “Fake News and Covid-19 in Italy” found 23 %, of over 2 million articles shared, were fake.

The floral wreath central to <Truth DeQay> , a symbol of mourning and grief, is composed of a dense point cloud, made from 40 million data points, computed from the software’s algorithm.  Though similar to the real-world wreath, the 3-d version has obvious digital flaws, flaws that were intentionally NOT edited-out.

Accompanying the wreath are pertinent sound wave stamps and video clips collected during the autumn and winter storms of 2020, which coincided with a period of chaos, as a second wave of the pandemic raged and American politics took a dark turn.

<Truth DeQay>’s  soundscape was composed by Phil & Jai Reeve. Bird song,  that I captured during lockdown, relevant news audio, and phrases spoken by artificial intelligence bots, were spliced into into their haunting composition.    

<Truth DeQay> was shown as an immersive projected audio-visual installation through November at Diffusion 2021 in Cardiff, Wales and as part of the Borderlands series in Fitzrovia Gallery, London along with a series of associated prints and collages by Chieko Jones.