He works with photography and video. The focus of his work is on key elements of our modern society driven and controlled by computer and information technologies. Najjar, widely seen as a visual futurist, transmutes science, history and philosophy into visions and utopias of future social structures emerging under the impact of cutting-edge technologies. The fusion of realistic elements with fictitious realities is a recurrent hallmark in his work which is usually composed in thematically focused series. Najjar demonstrates the potential of the photographic image, capable of making visible what is normally invisible to the human eye. His work visualizes what very often is beyond the limits of our perception, unveiling what is hidden under the surface of what he calls “telematic society“.
High Altitude, 2008-2010. (images 1-6).
In January 2009 Michael Najjar stood on the summit of Mount Aconcagua, at 6,962 meters, the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas. The photographic material gathered in the course of the three-week trek forms the basis of the "high altitude" work series.
The series visualizes the development of the leading global stock market indexes over the past 20-30 years. The virtual data of the stock market charts are resublimated in the craggy materiality of the Argentinean mountainscape.
Just like the indexes, mountains too have their timeline, their own biography. The rock formations soaring skywards like so many layered folds of a palimpsest bear witness to the life history of the mountain—stone storehouses of deep time unmeasureable on any human scale. The immediate reality of nature thus becomes a virtual experience.
The jagged rock formations of “high altitude” are emblematic of the thin edge separating reality and simulation.
Outer space (2011-ongoing). (images 7-16).
The "outer space" work series deals with the latest developments in space flight and the way they will shape our future life on earth and in earth's near orbit. We are now on the threshold of a new era in space flight heralded by a paradigm shift in aeornautics research and the aero-nautics industry above all by the emerging sector of commercial space travel.
By leaving our home planet and flying to the moon or other planets, we change our understanding of two of the most fundamental questions confronting humanity - who we are and where we come from. The attempt to penetrate the reaches of space bears testimony to our innate sense of curiosity and our need to widen frontiers and go beyond them. Yet the point is not merely to leave the earth behind us but to reflect on our world and what it means to us and the generations who'll come after us.
New developments are emerging fast across a broad spectrum of different domains. New space-ships for commercial and private use, ultra lightweight microsatelites, ultra high resolution space telescopes, low orbit intercontinental flights, hotels in space, space elevators, mineral mining on the moon and asteroids, and manned missions to Mars are all no longer just science fiction fantasies but realistic scenarios that research scientists and entrepreneurs alike take very seriously. Private space tourism will be a mayor driving force for the future development and roll-out of space flight, accelerating the evolution of novel safe and green energy concepts for manned space missions. Outher space will play an ever greater role in our daily lives and become a natural part of our day to day infrastructure. The "Outher Space" work series aims to elucidate the cultural dimension implicit in such technological developments and transpose it into a process of artistic transformation.
Venue.- Datascape. Laboral. Centro de arte y Creación Industrial. Los prados 121, 33394 - Gijón. Asturias. Spain.
Dates.- 14.03 > 01.09.2014.
