remains.

last weekend i browsed through my bookmarks and found a note from last year: "ghost in the machine". my philosophy background had me thinking i had marked it because of some cartesian point, but i was pleasantly surprised to stumble into erika iris simmons' homepage.

the young artist takes discarded materials and turns them into art. built from old cassette tapes and film reels she describes her series as being

inspired by some strange ideas. how at one level we are cellular beings and another we are a single “self.” the single cassette tape i thought of as representing the mind. the tape ribbon represents our thoughts, the data within. taking that data – those bits of memory – and rearranging them to form what we see as a face is my way of finding a “ghost in the machine.”

whether the idea of a divided self strikes you as plausible or not, her works remind us of human beings being able to leave a mark that endures through their influence on other people. whether you'd call it a soul that lingers or just a collective memory and appreciation, the phenomenon is definitely something appealing.

all pics from iri5 flickr stream. there's plenty more.

i wouldn't mind having a robert on my wall. now where's my disintegration tape...