on Ars Electronica
selected artwork by Jacob Tonski “Balance From Within” — Ars Electronica 2014
Project Balance From Within looks as if a very basic installation among all the sophisticated pieces on Ars Electronica. Although it may seem as unsophisticated, its value lies in its simplicity. What we see is a Victorian sofa balancing on its one leg, and in era of super-complex and overly sophisticated artworks, Balance From Within offers an unexpected experience.
The sofa itself is a represents friendships and other human relationships. Sofa is usually the place where we develop our friendships and get closer by spending evenings talking, eating or watching movies. It is a central place for community in our houses, in the middle of our living rooms.
These relationships are not always easy but we keep trying. We're not only trying balancing them, but they also help us balance ourselves and our lives. It's usually relationships that keep us sane in the business of our everyday. And as we try to balance all these worlds, the sofa tries to balance itself tirelessly, creating slights sounds as the machinery calculates the external forces and rebalances itself. These remind us the constant work that has to be done and will to be put into our rebalancing, otherwise it will all fall down. Resulting into a loud collapse, shattering the pieces of the furniture all around the room's floor.
The main attraction in this selected artwork is the simplicity. It makes us look away from all the sophisticated highly-technological artworks to look at an old sofa. There's nothing spectacular about it, but it creates a moment to stop and think about balancing our lives. Not only when it comes to our relationships but maybe with technology in our lives too.
