Jesus Touch. 2014 Alexei Shulgin, Aristarkh Chernyshev
Here is a simple instruction:
1. Get a smartphone or a tablet, launch a browser
2. Search for "Crucifixion"
3. Select "Images"
4. Start scrolling with your finger
Now you are touching all those crucifixions, hundreds of them.
Technology does not care about meanings of these images; sometimes they appear next to pictures of curiosities, ads and artisan creativity of Internet users. Sometimes you get explicit pictures imitating Jesus' life scenes.
New work of Electroboutique is exactly about this - about technology, that spreads to all spheres of your life. It does not care about copyright holders on the idea of the "sacred".
At some point we have to accept the right of technology, science and art to free use of the mankind's cultural heritage; and religion is definitely part of it. Hundreds of artists contributed their talent and energy in the creation of the Jesus character in the same way as today's artists contribute to depiction of the "heroes" from modern entertainment industry. The latter images bear firm copyright regulations of the rightholder companies based on the sophisticated law system. Nevertheless, these images freely circulate in culture appearing in completely different contexts.
Jesus Touch - is a result of technological, visual and communication possibilities of the modern world. It is not only "art" interface for touching an image, but also an interactive window to the paradoxical world of the modern technoculture.
Touch the screen, touch Jesus!