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Pete Burkeet

PLUG-IN / UNPLUG

Apr 23 - 24, 2024

Pete Burkeet - PLUG-IN / UNPLUG

Overview

"I wanted to work with my own personal experience growing up with pop culture, how the obsession with small talk, small ideas, and a false sense of body perfection made me search for ways of escaping."

- Pete Burkeet

"Plug-In / Unplug" is a collection of AI artworks that explore the duality of existence in the industrial world. The series addresses the stark contrast between those who are comfortable living as consumers and those who experience angst about such a lifestyle and wish to escape it.
Plug-In segment delves into a world where consumers are constantly reaching for unattainable perfection and experiencing brief highs from sugar rushes, encapsulating lust, gluttony, and greed. These desires are portrayed as being as natural and necessary as a plug drawing electricity from a wall, yet potentially overwhelming and destructive.
Unplug reflects on the urge to escape from the overwhelming sense of being constantly connected and consumer-driven. This escape leads to profound encounters with oneself, where stripping away life's distractions can result in either ecstasy or terror. The artworks in this section depict the intense and often daunting experience of confronting one's pure existence, removed from the cultural and consumerist constructs that typically provide comfort and identity.
The collection as a whole captures the emotional extremes and the uncertainty that comes with questioning and stepping away from ingrained cultural norms. It highlights the vacillation between comfort in consumption and the challenging journey towards true freedom and self-discovery. This body of work uses AI to mirror these complex human experiences, emphasizing the vanity and deep-seated fears that come with both embracing and rejecting modern consumer culture.
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