everything is and isn't at the same time | troika

The work series Obsolete Landscapes (2024) shows fragments of desktop backgrounds printed on aluminum that Apple Inc. has been using for its operating systems since 2014, with the tech company drawing on impressive landscape images of mountain ranges, deserts and islands in California. Beginning with Yosemite (10.10.5) and El Capitan (10.11.6), the naming has expanded from the titles of individual peaks to entire mountain ranges such as Sierra (10.12.6) and High Sierra (10.13.6). The Mojave Desert (10.14.6) followed, as did Santa Catalina Island (10.15.7). Troika deliberately removes the iconic images from these backgrounds, leaving only the sections depicting the sky. The collective thus breaks with the aestheticized depictions of landscapes that show a view of supposedly untouched nature, which runs counter to the extractivism that is practiced to supply computer-based systems.

The work Irma Watched over by Machines (2020) is part of Troika's series of works, in which video recordings of windswept palm trees during Hurricane Katrina and Irma were translated onto canvas. On closer inspection, the painted surface is finely pixelated, the specific colors based on a raster of the digital RGB color space. The dominant green shade of Irma Watched Over by Machines is created by breaking the image down into color mosaics correspondent to the digital image recordings, in which there are twice as many green as blue or red pixels in the image. The effect of the digital image counteracting with the increased sensitivity of the human eye to green hues, is carried over into the painting.

The sculpture Pile of Salt (2023) is composed of salt crystals that form an interconnected pyramid and cone. Although they share a common sculptural body of salt, they seem like two entities, each with its own starting point and acting separately. However, a metal plate forms the common layout onto which the fine crystalline salt is poured and, following the laws of gravity and self-assembly, forms their shape. The geometric contour of Pile of Salt defines the shape from which the sculpture grows.

In the series of sculptures Compression Loss and I woke up to find myself scattered across continents (2023) Troika draw from their collection of digitised sculptures and musea objects gathered from various online libraries. Reminiscent of porcelain, the works initially appear to be cast from one mold, while closer inspection reveals the layering of 3D printing. The digital twins of ancient, classical and contemporary objects are manipulated in a chain of 3D programs by digitally slicing them into clusters of equal thickness. These clusters are then brought back into the physical world as 3D prints, that are intermixed and reordered to create new configurations of the original objects.

In a Forest of Red, Green and Blue (Crisper) is composed of various depictions of birds: the Egyptian divine representation of the Horus falcon, a Ba statue, a half-human, half-bird-like figure often found on ancient Egyptian tombs, and an ancient representation of the Sphinx. Troika's creature Crisper is a composite of hybrid mythological beings, all with a close connection to the afterlife.

For the latest works in the series Troika developed a more complex algorithm than before, inspired by John Horton Conway's "Game of Life." In 1970, the mathematician developed a simple set of rules - an algorithm - applied to a simple grid of game pieces that could be used to explain complicated procedures. His algorithm was then used to model population growth, musical compositions, artificial life forms and even evolution. His simple "game" has influenced biologists, scientists and philosophers. Troika take this up to form different patterns using the algorithm, where these are not predictable, but can arrange themselves in each new process. In this work, Troika begins with a random row of colored and white cubes in the top row. Each subsequent row of cubes and color choice is then determined by the row above. Unlike early works in the series, the algorithm is no longer binary and defined to take into account the color of the cubes, from which the organic, growth-like patterns then emerge.

Die Quadratur des Kreises (2023) is part of an ongoing series of works in which Troika explores the multiple ways of perceiving and understanding the world. The sculptures are works with multiple facets, representing different geometric shapes in one. Inspired by Edwin Abbott's satirical novel "Flatland", in which the inhabitants of a two-dimensional world cannot recognize a three-dimensional object, these works are a mutation of different shapes perceived depending on the position of the viewer. 

Installation view Die Quadratur des Kreises, R+V Wiesbaden (2023) | Photo: Anton Sahler

The series Borrowed Light is a further development of the installation of the same name, exhibited at the Barbican, London in 2019 and in which a slowly moving film strip mirrored a steady sunrise and sunset. In both works, the layering of colored slide film strips creates a flow of intense color fields, comparable to abstract photography. The work is reminiscent of a sunrise or sunset, with the entire color spectrum representing this natural phenomenon. Rather than creating a recorded reality, Borrowed Light blurs the boundaries between experience and physical spheres, natural and man-made spaces.

The work series Unstable Constructs is composed of acrylic glass and color fields on photographic slide film, their color spectrum is shifting in relation to the viewer’s perspective. The form refers to columns as supporting architectural elements, whose surfaces begin to shift through changes in position and develop a flowing color spectrum. In addition to their examination of perception, representation and formal reduction, Troika's works are also characterized by an immanent second level of meaning, in which critical attitudes towards processes of digitalization and associated social developments are revealed.

Troika's Light Drawings, including Path of Least Resistance (2014) are created by electrical discharges burnt into the paper, leaving uncontrolled patterns in organic, branching forms. These traces evoke associations with rivers, blood vessels and plant roots – forms whose formations all go back to the same genetic law. The creation process of Path of Least Resistance is beyond any control and is guided solely by the resistance of the material and the force acting upon it. The current follows the trail of least resistance to close its circle.