Tytti Viljanen - Jutro już było

Electronics don’t grow mould, they deteriorate!

The expression “Jutro już było” (Finnish: “Tomorrow was already yesterday”) is a Polish saying that describes a situation in which something expected to happen in the future has already taken place or become reality – often surprisingly quickly. What was cutting-edge computer technology yesterday, made of expensive metals and requiring specialised assembly skills, is now useless, slow and incompatible electronic waste. Yet the ways in which we used electronics yesterday have created the reality we live in today.

The exhibition presents microchips through screen prints. Screen printing is used in the manufacturing of microchips, and now these obsolete circuits have been given portraits of their own in the form of screen prints. The circle is complete.

The work of the Finnish-Polish art collective 6984684 draws heavily on a technique developed by Toimi Tytti, in which the images in a print series form a sequence of monotypes. Each print differs from the previous one, as the movement of the printing process creates new forms within the image. Adding colour and water between successive prints creates visual associations with ageing electronics – wear and corrosion – linking the individual works in the series.

Electronics don’t grow mould, they deteriorate!

The collective 6984684 believes that familiarising ourselves with history is a healthy way to understand the present. The decisions that have shaped our present were made yesterday. The present shapes what we know about the future – or has it already happened? Was it all decided yesterday?

As development continues and the digital layer takes on new forms, instead of asking “Is it possible?”, we should be asking “Is it necessary?”