American Glitch
‘American Glitch’ (2020 - ongoing) is a look at the slip between fact and fiction and how this manifests in the U.S. landscape. In an era defined by screens, conspiracy theories, and the advent of the Metaverse, the notion that we are existing within a simulation has become increasingly popular. In the midst of the pandemic, the CIA released a report that acknowledged that they have been looking into this possibility for some time. This notion that we are living in a simulation appears online where images are posted as personal evidence of spotting a ‘glitch in real life’. This vernacular builds on ideas explored in movies like 'The Truman Show' and 'The Matrix'. It is a vernacular that embodies a generation’s experiences of video games - the peripheries of these digital worlds begin to show their edges as players brush up against them. In other words, the notion of a glitch reflects a generation’s experience where the digital and physical worlds are merging.
The artist duo Orejarena & Stein spent over a year researching locations throughout the U.S. that fit into the framework of a glitch. They travelled the U.S.'s highways and byways on Google Earth, confirming these locations' existence. They are viewing the internet as a mirror to our collective subconscious and taking the pulse of parafiction and its relationship to the U.S. This work will be presented alongside the following sentences: “One of these images has been manipulated. The artists will not say which one."
Orejarena & Stein are from Colombia and the U.K. respectively, however they have lived in the U.S. for large portions of their lives and they're interested in using the concept of a “glitch” in American society to explore the mythologies they both used to assimilate to their adopted home.
In an effort to dig right into the heart of these concerns, the duo often focus on the U.S. military and its substantial mark on the U.S. socio-political and physical landscape.
A crucial aspect of this new body of work is visual research. Orejarena & Stein devoted a year and half to researching the general public’s perception of ‘a glitch in real life’, the notion of living in a simulation, and Americana. The duo sourced material from all over the internet for this aspect of their work. This visual research can lead Orejarena & Stein to visit locations to make their own work. Other times this research provides a general framework, a foundation from which to launch from. These found images may appear in exhibitions and publications of ‘American Glitch’ in a myriad of forms - as wallpapers, as collages, as single images printed on a small scale; their forms are multifaceted, reflecting their online existence.
