- Year: 2018
- Medium: Acrylic on paper, mounted on foam board
- 29.7 × 42 cm
In Connection / Connection, Lars van Roosendaal examines the contradiction
between digital networking and social alienation. Several shadowy
The figures are slumped in a uniform posture, their bodies contorted,
Their gaze is fixed on the screen. The cold light from their smartphones overwhelms them.
the faces, while the background – a single upright person in
Backlighting – is presented as an almost unattainable alternative, visually distanced.
The scene analyzes the effects of excessive smartphone use on
Body awareness, presence, and interpersonal relationships.
The characters appear isolated, homogenized, de-individualized – frozen in a
A stance of permanent self-isolation. What is coded as "connection,"
This appears as an illusion: touch is replaced by surface light,
Interaction through algorithmically filtered selection. The light cones structure the space.
not only the image, but also create a form of control – through
Repetition, discipline, standardization.
The work reflects not only a general critical stance towards the media, but also
locates this observation particularly in queer everyday life, where encounters
increasingly outsourced to sexualized app cultures. Bodies are
Scanned, evaluated, archived – real proximity remains secondary. The fetish is not there.
more in the physical encounter, but in the aestheticized data surface.
Connection forms the second part of a triptych, together with
Condemnation and Contagion – A Visual Analysis
three states between longing and dissociation, publicity and intimacy,
Desire and demarcation.
