When Pixels Wash Ashore
The video installation «When Pixels Wash Ashore» examines the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, which faces imminent submergence due to global warming and rising sea levels. In response to the potential loss of its homeland, Tuvalu has announced plans to become fully virtual, transferring the nation’s existence to the «cloud.» The creation of this digital twin raises urgent questions about the fragility of environments and communities, highlighting the tension between digital custodianship and the unsustainable practices of the digital industry. How can we care for, preserve, and mourn the loss of places in the face of climate catastrophe?
«When Pixels Wash Ashore» navigates the intersection of digitization and statecraft, invoking critical cartographies to rethink territory and its demarcation. It exposes the breaking points of state measurement, where the spatial and temporal resolutions used to map climate change reveal the fragility of territorial frameworks. The project challenges the reliance on remotely sensed data to visualize the state, especially when such data is prone to distortion, degradation, or concealment.
Ultimately, the work proposes new frameworks for imagining other resolutions and rhythms of the state. How many centimeters of water would make Tuvalu disappear? How many grains of sand would allow it to remain?
