DIGITAL SKIN: ICONS FOR A PRE- APOCALYPTIC CYBER-TOPIA
Hayes is focused on addressing the dominant, techno-utopian rhetoric of the digital age. More often than not, the visual tone is one of exuberance; by appropriating the propagandistic aesthetics of the digital age, the artworks provide a reference point for debate, discussion and speculation about these vital issues and themes of contemporary life.
The series titled “Digital Skin: Icons For A Pre-Apocalyptic Cyber-Topia” engages the art object through the conventions of the computer screen, becoming a metaphor for the role of
technology in our own lives and wider society. This series manifests as physical objects, yet were shaped by ideas which are specific to the internet – such
as digital materiality and attention as currency – therefore being influenced by the extent to which they are “network conscious”. The subject of the artwork becomes increasingly complicated through the on/off line nature of the process, emphasizing the fluidity of the relationship between concept and object, physical and digital.