AMBERED: The Techno Past We Left Behind No.2
2024
Gold, epoxy resin, pigment, discarded iPhone 4s mobile phone, headphones, charging cables, disassembled parts
10x6cm, 8x8x14cm, 8x8x12cm
This artwork consists of multiple interconnected parts, drawing a metaphor from the disassembly and processing techniques used by workers at the world’s largest electronic waste disposal site, which the artist visited during field research. The outdated and discarded iPhone 4S is gradually broken down from a fully functional device into scattered electronic components, with valuable metals extracted, then reassembled into a symbolic “sandwich cookie.” The artist preserves these industrial elements that cannot be metabolized—old phones, dismantled circuit boards, chips, and other technological fragments—much like amber in nature preserves insects and plants. This process imbues these electronic remnants with "fossil-like" qualities. The work reflects on the life cycle of technological products, exploring the "afterlife" of electronic media: from their peak as central vehicles of industrialization and consumer society to their ultimate fate as waste. Just as natural amber can preserve life forms from millions of years ago, "electronic amber" presents the former functions and complexities of these objects in a frozen state. These technological relics, now rendered useless in a new environment, prompt the audience to reflect on the relationships between technology, memory, and ecology.
这件作品由多部分组成，彼此相连，以艺术家戴圣杰田野探访的全球最大电子废料集散地的工作者们拆解加工方式为隐喻：过时淘汰的旧iPhone 4S手机从完整的功能体被逐渐分解为零散的电子元件，经过酸洗提炼出具有经济价值的贵金属，然后重新整合，化身为一个象征性的“曲奇饼干🍪”。
艺术家将这些工业化过程里无法被代谢的元素——旧手机、拆开的电路板、芯片及其他技术碎片封存起来，似自然界中琥珀封存昆虫与植物的方式，使这些电子残骸拥有了“化石”的特质。作品反思了技术产品的生命轨迹，探讨电子媒介的“来世”：从它们作为工业化和消费社会核心载体的高光时刻，到最终被视为为废料的结局。正如自然琥珀可以保存数百万年前的生命信息，“电子琥珀”在一种静止的状态中展示其曾经的功能和复杂性，冻结技术遗留物，却在新的环境中变得无用，启发观众反思技术、记忆与生态之间的关系。