My Activity reflects upon the way that we personally interact with and transfer of our thoughts to a virtual entity. This entity not only survives our death but will continue to learn and grow beyond our physical lives. Exploring the web as a form of ‘augmented eternity’ which makes our digital footprint more relevant than ever, Van Gelderen examines his online persona through the archive of his Google browsing history and activity.

“I was struck by the realisation that I had come of age online. At a formative time in my life, I viewed technology as a safe space; a space not only to navigate and work through feelings but also to search for validation and others who felt like me.”

The installation serves as a funeral for the artists’ virtual self. A psychological self-portrait is pieced together from a virtual portrait; a eulogy solicited from an anonymous user online based solely on Google data with no additional information or context; images and video data from his browsing history, memorialising his virtual life since 2011 and reclaiming his public history.

Luke van Gelderen was chosen as the winner of Rua Red’s Winter Open Exhibition 2018.

Van Gelderen’s current work is focused on how real life situations are mediated through the internet. This has led the artist to examine the ethics of the internet, surveillance, and his own personal digital footprint.

The search is to discover new ways of engaging with the materiality of the internet. Inhabiting the blurred line between physical and virtual space, allowing for alternate realities which question and re-imagine how we use digital media.

To date Van Gelderen’s work has been included in the following exhibitions:

• Nothing to Declare, IAA Visual Control Tower, Dublin Airport, 2019, as part of Fingal Culture Night curated by Dr. Tina Kinsella
• K4 galleri, Oslo, As part of Oslo Art Weekend 2019
• How’s ur da?, MLV Studios, Dublin, 2019
• Hvar endar þetta?, Iceland University of the Arts, Reyjavík, 2019
• MyndMál, Safnahúsið, Reykjavík, 2019
• Hljóðön, Hafnarborg Art Gallery, Iceland, 2019
• Víðir Happening, Reyjavík, 2019
• Making The Intangible Tangible, United Artists Club, Dublin, 2019
• Winter Open, Rua Red, Dublin, 2018, Receiving the ‘Judges Choice’
• Effectuate, IADT, Dublin, 2018, in collaboration with Outpost Studios Bray
• Forethought, United Artists Club, Dublin, 2018, curated by Jenny Haughton
• Claremorris Open Exhibition, Claremorris, 2017, curated by Tom Morton contributing editor of Frieze Magazine
• Symbiosis, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), 2017