Trading
2019 / dibond, digital print / 80 x 60 cmIn the Trading series, Alexander Egorov employs a smartphone camera to capture his artistic vision. The photographer zooms in on the processes of production and overproduction, not just of physical objects, but also of visual information. Within this framework, the smartphone emerges as a pivotal tool that, along with social media, fuels an endless stream of information and imagery. Social networks foster an illusion of intimacy, while an overwhelming array of products creates a false sense of choice. Egorov finds inspiration in the cacophonous environment of supermarkets, drawing a parallel between wandering through a shopping mall and taking a stroll through a forest. He likens the competition among plants for sunlight to the struggle among products for consumer attention. Intentionally designed to disrupt the viewer's perception, he breaks his images into vibrant fragments, often duplicating them within a single frame. Each photograph in the Trading series can challenge our optical senses, emphasizing the ways in which our reality increasingly mirrors the characteristics of the digital realm—contrary to the earlier belief that the digital world merely reflects reality.