Shortwave is a series of new digital commissions, designed to platform a diverse cross-section of emerging or early career interdisciplinary Australian artists working at the forefront of digital performance.

the best i can do is redirect energy, 2021
Kalanjay Dhir

Help the artist’s flowery avatar polish a sheet of brass and receive a little neural reward! Every day, the Sun works so hard to convert matter into energy. Many experiences on Earth are contingent on this energy called sunlight.

the best i can do is redirect energy (2021) thinks about the behaviours of light, computer generated imagery, the mirror-based imaging technologies behind cameras and satellites, and photosynthesis. This multilayered performance adopts cues from simulation style mini-games and Youtube tutorials, by exploring the formal qualities of dopamine stimulating media modes. Through sonic and visual positive reinforcements, viewers can simulate completing a task by achieving a reflective mirrored surface.

The artist’s flowery avatar, Petalli, guides the viewer through the steps of polishing a sheet of brass to near mirror finish. This anthropomorphic flower acts, as the etymology of ‘avatar’ suggests, as a thought experiment in articulating the effects of light on life.

The gamification of the artist’s task transports the viewer to a different reality, drawing a link between starlight and the conditions necessary for sustaining terrestrial consciousness.

Throughout Kalanjay’s work, he questions the potential of consciousness, by making hyper-local and extraterrestrial references. How might technologies found in spiritual practices (such as deification, ritual, prayer and devotion) look in the contemporary?

With thanks to Chi Tran, Jeremy Elphick and Skills and Trade YT Channel
Original Soundtrack by Neil Cabatingan (Kuya Neil)
Made on unceded Dharug Land in 2021

Live footage, Copyright free YouTube clips, Adobe, Splice, OBS Studio, VRoidStudio 0.14.0, VSeeFace