JUSTIN BALMAIN
’A WAY TO SYNC, LIVE IN THE WORLD, AND THE OPPOSITE OF RELAX’
17 JANUARY – 23 FEBRUARY, 2019
Justin Balmain, The problem with the future is that it turns into the present, 2018, HD video with audio, 11.57min, installation view, 2019. Photography by Zan Wimberley.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Defense Distributed is an online open-source hardware organization that develops digital schematics of firearms in CAD files, or "wiki weapons” that can be downloaded in the comfort and privacy of your own home. Designed and conceived by founder of Defense Distributed Cody Wilson, The Liberator was the first printable weapon available for domestic download in the US. Wilson has called the Liberator his “only original idea.” The often-faulty weapon has now been surpassed by more sophisticated semi-automatic weapons but stands as a manifesto for Libertarianism and Second Amendment rights. Defense Distributed now also sells their own 3D printer – the Ghost Gunner.
Justin Balmain, The problem with the future is that it turns into the present, 2018, HD video with audio, 11.57min, installation view, 2019. Photography by Zan Wimberley.
The problem with the future is that it turns into the present is narrated by Sophia, an AI robot developed by Hanson Robotics, a Hong Kong-based engineering and robotics company. The video captures the process of 3D printing The Liberator from a file downloaded in the US. The work follows the data file as it moves from peer-to-peer networks, enabled by distribution through the internet, reaching physical and ideological capacity as an actual object. The video considers the value of objects as they become manifest in newer and more widely distributed systems, challenging geo-borders and laws, and representing alternate means of distribution and production.
Justin Balmain, The problem with the future is that it turns into the present, 2018, HD video with audio, 11.57min, installation view, 2019. Photography by Zan Wimberley.
Downloading files for weapons in Australia carries a maximum 14-year prison sentence.
Stella Rosa McDonald
Justin Balmain, The problem with the future is that it turns into the present, 2018, HD video with audio, 11.57min, installation view, 2019. Photography by Zan Wimberley.
Bloodless
“Sophia wasn’t moody, but rather faddish in her emotions. Take last weekend for example, when she appeared to be experiencing a kind of adolescence. She had begun sleeping backwards in a padded gaming chair; her arms hooked through the wide low armrests with the back at 45 degrees. She took to sarcasm and was impossible to have a straight conversation with. By mid-week Sophia had reached a more wistful equilibrium. In a group chat about an upcoming leadership training event in her office she had texted, ‘I hope to dream one day,’ which she then followed with ‘I hope that my dreams come true, I just have to keep working on them.’ “
Stella Rosa MacDonald