Iskra Velitchkova’s A captive parrot takes flight on the wings of a question: how does technology reshape our connection with the natural world?
Advances in photographic and tracking technologies have revolutionised our ability to understand and capture animal behaviour, making nature appear closer than ever before. As the wild enters our living rooms and handsets through the black mirror of the screen, Velitchkova interrogates the technologies which proliferate this perceived closeness. She explores their power to both amplify the unseen lives of creatures sharing our planet and their simultaneous potential to obscure the complex realities of animals struggling on a planet in crisis. A captive parrot addresses these existential dualities, reflecting the intricate dance between us and the natural world.
Central to A captive parrot is the concept of perception. Drawing from earlier architectural motifs in her practice, Velitchkova reimagines the polychromatic bird through code, constructing planes of geometric shapes that evoke a beak or wings in flight. Our perception is guided by the suggestion of these integrated forms, and abstraction transforms into figuration. This prompts viewers to question how humans quantify the natural world, and how these structures of measurement shape our understanding of reality. Can technology offer novel possibilities not just to represent, but to enhance our perception of the world?
Iskra Velitchkova
A captive parrot
2023
NFT Digital Work
Unique Original
5 ETH
If we can discern recognisable forms within the code, or even allusions to them, could this be the gateway to understanding how we have constructed our reality? Many questions abound, and answers are elusive for now. However, here before us, we have a (still) captive parrot."
Throughout the 20th century, revolutionary advancements in both photography and tracking systems, such as smart tags and logging devices, have significantly simplified the process of documenting the behaviour of wild animals. These innovations have provided unprecedented access to secretive migratory patterns and nocturnal activities that are typically hidden from human observation.
As technology becomes the medium with which we observe, quantify and understand animal behaviour, Velitchkova uses this medium to challenge our perception of the objectivity of these technologies. From the ancient Paleolithic cave paintings of Lascaux, France, to the contemporary wildlife photography of Joel Sartore and Gordon Yates, artistic expression has always adapted to the tools available to depict and comprehend the natural world. Whilst art has been a tool to facilitate our quest for understanding, technology has positioned itself as an end point in this quest – an objective observer of animal life. In A captive parrot, Velitchkova highlights the importance of abstracting this perceived objectivity, subverting the inherent perception that technology represents an endpoint in our grasp of the natural world.
Images: 1: ‘Anteater’, 2: ‘Drop’, 3: ‘Horse’. All images courtesy of the artist.
Velitchkova’s A captive parrot builds upon her earlier experiments with architectural forms in the series ESCAPE. In these earlier works, she focused primarily on form and shape, deliberately omitting colour to emphasise these fundamental elements. This exercise sharpened her ability to integrate colour with shape in subsequent explorations, enhancing her understanding of their interplay. In A captive parrot, the convergence of colour and geometry within the generative process increases the potential for unexpected revelations of familiar topologies.
Image: ‘ESCAPE V’
Velitchkova’s exploration of generative art unveils a fascinating phenomenon: the birth of a digital menagerie. As artists create rules and witness unexpected outcomes, they engage in a dialogue with a nascent digital ecosystem. This interaction signifies a metamorphosis in artistic creation, where artists co-exist with the entities they generate. Finding the form of a bird through code is not merely an act of representation, but an investigation into the question: “how many lines of code separate us from the design of a bird?” In this process of emergence, as we discern avian forms amidst abstract geometric arrangements, we navigate between familiarity and difference. While many of us may not have encountered a parrot outside of our screens, its image remains familiar. How many lines of code are required to recreate these hyper-realistic images, and how many more are needed to capture the essence of the living creature?
Images: 1: ‘ESCAPE IV’, 2: ‘ESCAPE VI’, 3: ‘ESCAPE II’. All images courtesy of the artist.
Bird Birth
Bird
Eighteenth Century Bird
Bird II
Golden Bird
Throughout history art has acted as a window to the world, from ancient cave paintings to realistic landscapes and the abstractions defining our modern era. But is what we see the only reality? Is it possible that through mathematics and intuition, we might discover new clues that remain hidden from sight but are revealed in code like a magical mirror?"
The parrot exists paradoxically both inside and outside of a cage. The frame restricts the bird mid-flight, seen by the viewer but not experienced by the code-created creature, which through further interactions and generated possibilities could fly further into a jungle of 0s and 1s. This liminal space between figuration and abstraction, freedom and restriction, urges us to seek out the familiarity of the forms of the natural world, bridging the gap between human perception and reality. Here, technology offers not only a means of representation and capture but, through the generative process, also creates new interpretations of animal behaviour — realities and possibilities that transcend the supposed objectivity of photographic technology. Insights into the animal kingdom missed during the act of recording are spectacularly revealed through the act of creation.
Ultimately, Velitchkova’s inquiry delves into the core of what it means to be human. Can machines, through their ability to generate art that reflects the natural world, bring us closer to our own humanity? By exploring distance, emergence, and new artistic landscapes, A captive parrot encourages us to harness technology not just to document and observe, but to engage with and understand the complexities of life on Earth more deeply. Velitchkova’s work ultimately serves as a guiding light, illuminating a deeper understanding of ourselves and the symphony of life that surrounds us.
Images: 1: ‘Escape Red’, 2: ‘Escape Orthodox’, 3: ‘A Captive Parrot’. All images courtesy of the artist.
INTERVIEW
Spreading Her Wings: Iskra Velitchkova on 'A captive parrot'
Benjamin Kandler, our Director of Digital Art, sits down with artist Iskra Velitchkova to discuss her upcoming feature A Captive Parrot inaugurating Unit Digital’s ‘Beyond the Code’ series.
Get in touch for additional information and to receive updates on future ‘Beyond the Code’ projects.
Biography
Iskra Velitchkova (b. 1988) is a Bulgarian self-taught artist who lives and works in Madrid. With a focus on the interplay between machines and humans, her works speak to the limitations of the human condition in contrast to the constant evolution of new technologies.
Velitchkova’s practice is influenced by Balkan and Mediterranean culture, and explores artificial intelligence in tandem with the nuances of the artistic process. She highlights the slippages between two different modes of communication: language processed by the computer and language transmitted verbally between humans.
Velitchkova has exhibited internationally, including at Kate Vass Galerie, Zurich; Museum of Applied Art in Frankfurt; Tonic in New York; as well at Art Basel Miami and Singapore Art Fair. Her work has gone to auction at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, and has featured in Forbes’ guide to Digital Art and NFTs.