Cassian Robbertze South African, b. 1997
Dreamer depicts a nude female figure standing motionless beneath a hyper-technological headset that obscures her vision entirely. Thick cables emerge from the back of the device, flowing outward against gravity like a suspended cape before connecting into the base below. The base itself resembles a fragment of obsolete computer hardware, partially degraded and disappearing with time.
The figure stands upright yet withdrawn, one hand held behind her back while the other loosely grips her arm. Her body is thin and visibly emaciated; her hollowed cheeks and fragile posture suggest prolonged neglect, as though she has remained in this state for an immeasurable length of time. Sculpted naturalistically, she appears less posed than suspended physically present, yet psychologically absent.
The work explores withdrawal into digital existence within a speculative post-technological future. The viewer is denied access to whatever world the figure inhabits through the headset, left only to witness the condition of the body that remains behind. It is unclear whether she discovered this device long after the collapse of the civilisation that created it, becoming trapped within its virtual space, or whether the technology itself is sustaining her existence indefinitely. In either reading, the figure occupies a state between preservation and disappearance, her physical form slowly eroding while her consciousness remains elsewhere.
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