TECHNO MYSTIC uses YouTube as a spirit medium, bringing together seven artist-made films and videos that explore the incongruous co-existence of mysterious phenomena and modern technologies.

 

A 3D landscape of classical ruins set to the poetry of W.B. Yeats.

 

Vangelis-like synths accompany us through 3D rendered ruins of classic antiquity as three British text-to-speech robots read W. B. Yeats. Mixing irony and tragedy, the video evokes the passage of time in a computer-generated world, a setting which seems to be outside of human history. Here, once-great cultural symbols have degenerated into sentimental kitsch. Yet within these symbolic ruins, there still exists a playful, quasi-mystical hope for cultural renewal. 

 

Video by Jon Rafman, 2010

Collection of Stefan Simchowitz. 

 

Jon Rafman (1981) is an artist, filmmaker, and essayist. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Literature from McGill University and a M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His film and new media work have been exhibited internationally including a the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome and the New Museum in New York City. Rafman's 'Nine Eyes of Google Street View' has been featured in Modern Painter, Frieze, Der Spiegel, Libération, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Harper's Magazine.

 

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