remotes

LARGER IMAGES
SMALLER IMAGES
TWIN TOWERS
Each print in my series, Remotes, is the result of strategic hi-res scanning of an electronic TV or DVD remote controller, small sections of which have been cropped in squares, significantly enlarged and printed. The Remotes series plays upon effects resulting from shifts in scale. Through magnification, the viewer is alienated or detached from the device’s initial purpose and left to negotiate a micro-world of large coloured blobs, unfamiliar surfaces, decontextualized scraps of text, and various detritus (dust, human hairs, glue, etc.). The remote controller becomes a site of abjection, engendering emotional responses of revulsion or perplexity. Even recognizable elements—like the bits of text, or the controller buttons—seem cryptic. This series exposes how our narrow sensory range implies a narrow human subjectivity, as even a small degree of magnification applied to a “normal” household object quickly propels it into the realm of the alien.

I embarked on this series while in residence at Centre Sagamie, in Alma, Quebec, in November 2012, and expanded it significantly in May 2014, also at Sagamie. The prints that comprise Remotes come in three basic formats:
• A main line of 12 x 12 inch prints
• A secondary line of smaller 6 x 6 inch prints
• Certain one-off editions of much larger prints (varied dimensions) exploring particular sub-themes, such as Twin Towers

Remotes (Larger Series)
Digital prints on paper (12” x 12”)
2014

Remotes (Smaller Series)
Digital prints on paper (6” x 6”)
2014

Remotes (Twin Towers)
Digital print on vinyl (56” x 92”)
2014
© 2012–2017 by Edwin Janzen. All rights reserved.