In my jewelry art project WARNING: ERROR MEGA EXPLOSION, INEVITABLE HEALING WARNING, I continue working with my previous theme of how digital systems act as amplifiers of all kinds of thoughts. However, going forward I want to place greater emphasis on the multidimensional and imperfect nature of human beings. Such a situation can also cause a computational system created by humans to malfunction. I create a scenario in which a technical catastrophe has occurred.
I start from a situation where digital systems have dealt us unexpected cards and may behave unpredictably—for example, they may refuse to shut down despite human commands. I explore ways of safely bringing such a feared situation into reality. The jewelry pieces and objects may probe the problems and boundaries that arise in relation to digital systems, because the moment I recognize that an assumed plan can no longer be realized creates the possibility for new situations to emerge.
The initial data and components are computational patterns, but no longer as errors—instead as provoked patterns. I position myself as an imagined repairer who arrives to resolve the situation.
My practice investigates the tension between digital modeling and material transformation, where data-based structures become embodied in metal as new matter. In my work, the digital and the computational are part of a broader material process. The form is created in a digital environment, using a geographical map as the basis for measurement and structure. The piece comes into being through my direct shaping, finishing, and soldering.
The geographical map serves as a data-driven material and I use it as a reference, translating the map visually and intuitively. I interpret the map’s data in a neutral way, treating it as an abstract system.The work speaks from the perspective of a computational system, contemplating what remains non-computable and resistant to calculation. This work began when I revisited my grandparents’ landscape in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine using Google Maps.
UNTITLED II; ring, silver, 2026
Anneli Oppar 