Adriana Berges

ABOUT THE PROJECT        

Do we know more about the world through digital images than through our own experience in the “real” landscape?
1. art 2. painting 3. postphotography 4. landscape 5. IA 6. real

The project From digital paradises is an archive of lock screens that have appeared on my screen (Windows 10 and 11) since 2020, the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, when most of us were at home “travelling” from screen to screen. The question in that moment was: do we know more about the world through digital images than through our own experience in the “real” landscape? We can say yes, right? The professor Javier Arnaldo in the introduction of the book Nine letters on landscape painting, asks the lecturer, what can be more pleasure than walking and discovering amazing landscapes in this world without taking any risk. All of us, connected to the Internet, have the possibility to discover the world trusting the image. But, the question is: is it still the same experience? what is real, the nature, or the picture of the landscape? Do we travel around the world following an iconic point of view?

Mont Routi, Drakensberg National Park, Lago di Garda, Pedra da Gávea, Monument Valley or Yosemite are some places that I have registered in my digital folder. My methodology is simple and repetitive. First I take a screenshot of my computer lock screen wallpaper (Windows 11), then I save it in my folder. When I find the right time I put the image in Google Lens, then Google recognizes the image or tries to make a comparison with some similar images. Artificial intelligence (AI) knows how to do that job. I try to choose the most appropriate one to find the “real” location in the map. For example: “This place looks like Arizona, but is it really there? Where exactly?” The most scary thing for me is that with all the artificial intelligence that we have today it is quite easy to find a remote place in any maps. Every exotical, virgin or unknown paradise in the world can be found on the Internet. It’s possible to find the place, its coordinates, and a roadmap to visit that place. And, of course, it’s possible to find comments in travel websites from people who were there first. Why do we travel? Are we following the image? Are we following the adventure?

The philosopher and writer Emily Thomas cites in her book, The meaning of travel. Philosophers abroad, great classics of travel literature such as The Travels of Marco Polo (Rustichello da Pisa 1298), Robinson Crusoe (Defoe, D, 1719), Rambles in Germany and Italy (Shelly, M. 1842-1843), Walden; or, Life in the wood (Thoreau, H. D, 1854), Into the wild (Krakauer, J, 1995), The New Atlantis (Bacon, 1626), The mountains of California (John Muir, 1870) or Oroonoko: or the Royal Slave (Aphra, 1688). In these stories, the action of the journey involves risk. The writer Andrea Wulf narrates the journeys made by the naturalist Alexander von Humbolt, recounting the dangerous experiences and suffering involved in discovering new places. Through screens, ‘traveling’ is safe. The physical experience of travel it’s also safe if people follow the instructions or take the photo in the right place. But if the world is safe for us, there is another part who is at risk: nature as a consumer object.

This project is the ‘pictorical’ conclusion of my PhD entitled Digital Paradises: Pictorial Tradition, Screens and New Aesthetics of the Virtual Landscape where I pay special attention at the consequences of massive tourism in exotic places. Examples such as Danny Boyle’s film The Beach or the environmental problems in the Maldives are clear warnings of how a paradise can become a hostile place with an environmental problem. The project From digital paradises promotes an ecological awareness of the environment, based on care, respect and coexistence with the natural environment. It is well known that Artificial Intelligences, streaming broadcasts, emails and any interaction with the digital environment has an impact on the physical environment, from the fibre cables in the ocean to the litres of water needed to cool data servers. It is up to each of us, whether we act as users, as tourists or as travellers. I believe that, if we act as users, it is necessary to keep a critical eye on images and social media in order not to be manipulated or deceived. As tourists we must be responsible for the impact we have on the natural environment. We must ask ourselves about the need to walk on beaches, meadows and land for mere pleasure or to immortalise the image ‘I’ve been here’. We have a responsibility to protect the environment, to leave space for animals and plants, to be aware of our impact on the environment. And finally, as travellers, people who know how to turn travel into a creative experience, we must also be prudent and always show respect for the environment that inspires us to create.

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This project and the attached images were realised within the residency R29: For real co-organised by Praksis (transnational platform for art, research and learning based in Oslo, Norway) and the artist Harold Offeh during the months of March and April 2025.

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Adriana Berges, From digital paradises, installation, acrylic on CANSON watercolour paper 300g, 12 x 18 ‘5cm, 2024-2025.