Memento Mori - J. Rosenbaum

overlapping line drawings of people. there are so many that the core subject has become indistinct.

In ‘Memento Mori,’ I explore the consequences of our increasing reliance on AI and technology, particularly in the context of environmental degradation. By capturing human presence and obscuring them through repetitive tracing, I highlight the ephemerality of human presence in the face of environmental harm. This artwork serves as a reminder of the need for accountability and awareness in our relationship with technology, urging viewers to consider the environmental impact of their actions.

Inspiration

Memento Mori comes from the Latin remember you will die. It is a recurring theme in art over the centuries. In this work I use it as a memento for the earth, remember our environment can die and our world can die. I drew from the work of Rembrandt re-using his etching plates and reconfiguring the artwork each time but in the process completely destroying the ability to reproduce the previous work. It was a limited resource, much in the same way our natural resources are limited. As this is a plotter work I also drew inspiration from one of the pioneers of generative art, Vera Molnar. Molnar’s work was a particular inspiration during some of the more challenging aspects of this work’s development, forcing me back to the drawing board.

Development

A plotter drawing outlines of human figures on glass in black pen.

A plotter drawing small boxes over and over on glass in black pen. The boxes represent humans as detected by AI

A plotter drawing a series of angular body shapes on a piece of glass in black pen

This work began, as all my work does, in code. And in the idea of segmenting and drawing the outlines of humans seen by the AI. I began with webcam capture, then segmentation, edge detection, png generation, svg tracing then finally sending to the plotter via gcode. There were multiple problems in the execution of this work, from the wrong plotter to the overall aesthetic so this work evolved in appearance while maintaining the overall impact and concept of the piece. From segmentation I moved to YOLO and drew bounding boxes instead which allowed for a more aesthetic final result.

Fort Earth Exhibition at 45 Downstairs

FORT EARTH is a curated exhibition + project providing the opportunity for visual artists and creators to develop personal or collaborative artworks with sustainability and the environment in mind. Artists came together to create a massive exhibition using environmentally friendly materials.

Memento Mori was shown in an experimental capacity to test the system under a large influx of viewers.

a plotter drawing iteratively on a sheet of plexiglass in green and blue rectangles of different sizes.

the full work in exhibition at 45 downstairs. showing the plotter on a low platform and a computer on a higher plinth. the computer has code open on the screen

The finished sheet of plexiglass, shown with blue and green rectangles almost completely obscuring the surface