GAME ART: YUCEF MERHI'S WHERE DO WE GO (2023)
Yucef Merhi's thought-provoking installation Where Do We Go explores notions of physical confinement and mental freedom. The piece features three vintage CRT television sets with transparent casings, connected to Atari 2600 game consoles from 1977. Each console contains a custom cartridge programmed with one part of the central question that titles the work: "Where do we go/when we stay/in the same place?". The old-school game systems and their ponderous query sit atop two wide plexiglass pedestals, giving the impression that the technology floats in space.
Notably, Merhi acquired the televisions from prisons, where transparent-cased models were used to prevent contraband smuggling. This imbues the work with another layer of meaning tied to incarceration. Even confined to a cell, the human mind remains free to wander to new spaces through creative thought, imagination, and introspection. Merhi invites us to move around his installation and reflect on this interplay between physical restrictions and mental liberation. The blinking text onscreen reads like an existential mantra, while the visible interior workings of the TV sets symbolize the untethered workings of the mind. Ultimately, Where Do We Go investigates where the human spirit travels even when the body cannot, suggesting that new perspectives emerge whenever we quest inward.
Yucef Merhi is an interdisciplinary artist, poet, and programmer whose innovative works fuse technology, language, and philosophical ideas. Born in 1977 in Caracas, Venezuela, Merhi studied at the Universidad Central de Venezuela before moving to the United States to continue his education. He earned a bachelor's degree from the New School University in New York City, followed by a master's degree in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University. Merhi creates conceptually driven installations, sculptures, and digital works that engage electronic devices in unconventional ways. For example, his Poetic Clock converts the passage of time into computer-generated poetry, producing 86,400 unique poems daily. After establishing himself in the New York art scene over the past two decades, Merhi continues to push creative boundaries with his multidisciplinary practice today. His avant-garde works offer unique insight into the intersection between technology, poetry, and philosophy in the contemporary world.
LINK