Navigating Digital Distraction: Moises’s “Doomscrolling Treadmill + Touch Grass Station” at Chroma Art Film Festival

Venezuelan-born, Miami-based Moises Sanabria (1990) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work extends dialectics of machine philosophy alongside trends in memetics and branding through the context of networked social-media life. Moises’ work is both philosophical and political, joining academic aesthetics with internet meme cultures. His practice is deeply entangled with digital nowness, using live-streaming, video, new media, machine learning, and installation to connect the advancement of science with art further.

Currently in residence at Bakehouse Art Complex, his work explores the future of capitalism intersecting with technology in the age of ai. Through his work with hardware, smart sculptures, and interaction, Sanabria delves into the dialectics of being human during the economic shifts towards automation and artificial intelligence. Speculating the future and visualizing the digital culture in and physical environment we can better position ourselves for the future that lies ahead from a cultural and creative standpoint. 

Sanabria’s artworks, created with interactive sensors, LED panels, routers, projectors, 3D print, lasers, GPUs confront the viewer to transport their imagination into a near future, where economic and digital trends have grown further. His work invites audiences to ponder how technology shapes our understanding of self through digital simulation and encourages a critical examination of how screens and content are replacing our reality.   

Selected group exhibitions include: BreadBytes (Miami, USA) in 2022. In 2013, Sanabria received a full tuition scholarship to the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.

Currently, his work is featured; CONTINUUM at The National Museum of Art of Guatemala (MUNAG).
In today’s hyper-connected world, the boundaries between our digital and physical lives are increasingly blurred. Moises’s performance piece, “Doomscrolling Treadmill + Touch Grass Station,” presented at the Chroma Art Film Festival, tackles this modern dilemma head-on. Over a 24-hour period, Moises explores the tension between digital distraction, productivity, and the innate human need to reconnect with nature.

Performance and Artistic Insight:
“Doomscrolling Treadmill + Touch Grass Station” is more than just a performance; it’s a profound commentary on the state of contemporary society. The work involves Moises alternating between walking on a treadmill while engaging with digital content like coding and watching TikTok, and stepping off to physically touch a patch of grass. This act of touching grass serves as a powerful, symbolic gesture of grounding oneself back to the physical world, offering a stark contrast to the digital engagement.

Medium and Setup:
This immersive installation comprises several elements that together create a poignant visual and experiential narrative:

• Treadmill: Symbolizes the endless grind and the monotony of modern productivity.
• Vertical High-Resolution Screens: Display continuous streams of digital content, reflecting the overwhelming influx of information in digital spaces.
• Coding Workstation: Represents the intense focus and mental engagement required in digital professions.
• Grass Patch: Serves as a literal and metaphorical touchpoint for nature and reality.
• LED Panel: Enhances the visual impact and draws attention to the ‘Touch Grass’ action.

Performance Dynamics:
Throughout the 24-hour performance, Moises’s actions on the treadmill versus his interactions with the grass patch poignantly illustrate the dichotomy between our digital engagements and the physical world. Each transition from the treadmill to the grass is a reminder of the potential for recalibration and reconnection in our own lives.

Artistic Commentary:
Moises’s work is a critique of how modern technology, while beneficial in many ways, often leads us to neglect our physical and mental well-being. The performance urges viewers to reflect on their own digital consumption and to consider the importance of disconnecting. It prompts a necessary conversation about balance in an age where digital presence often overshadows physical and emotional health.

“Doomscrolling Treadmill + Touch Grass Station” at the Chroma Art Film Festival is not just an art installation; it is a wake-up call. It challenges us to examine the pace of our lives and our priorities, advocating for a more balanced, health-focused approach to the way we live and work in the digital age.

Credits:
Photos courtesy of the artist, taken by Brooke D’ Avanzo.