Jim Olijkan
Roots of Tomorrow
Installation
Monitor on pedestal, plexiglass
40 x 70 x 3 cm (excl. pedestal)
Chance, Speculation, FOMO, Interactivity, Growth
In ‘Roots of Tomorrow’, Olijkan explores the evolution of identity through an interactive installation. The work reflects on the randomness of life and fear related to making the wrong choices. By borrowing elements from roulette and pinball aesthetics, while also referencing mathematical models used in probability theory, Olijkan materializes the symbiotic relation between the two subjects.
After researching the discourse surrounding roots and heritage, Olijkan became interested in the idea that life could be pre-determined and how to translate this into a work. He states that at birth your starting conditions are composed of a collection of pre-existing statistics, you inherited from your direct surroundings.
But our identities aren’t just the sum of our ancestral past and our upbringing. In Olijkan’s opinion, they are also very much the result of our own experiences in our current reality. Our identity and the person we call self, is an ever-evolving entity, making decisions for the future in the now, based on knowledge about the past. In his installation Olijkan states that we can often pinpoint key defining moments that have shaped our path, and perhaps changed our life trajectory, for better or worse. In the same way our roots show where we have come from, they will also decide where we are headed towards.
