THE
MAGNETIC STATE
​TIME MANIPULATION
PROJECT.

As much an exercise in cultural parody as it is a dire warning to future generations, the perpetual Magnetic State Time Manipulation Project explores the temporal opportunities afforded by exploiting the nature of how information is consumed and framed on the internet.

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By using social media to 'introduce' original works into the established cultural timeline by way of anachronistic year designations [e.g. 1982] and diverse fictional geographic origins, the Project aims to show how our perception of the past, and therefore the present, can be distorted due to the way we consume media in a culture increasingly devoid of any physical artifacts. 

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Magnetic State is a small community of Artists who work together in the creation of works that are stylistically evocative of a cultural epoch, with particular focus on years of significant social or political change.

 

Those works are then 'inserted' into the time-line by way of social media (e.g. YouTube) and in some cases become indistinguishable from authentic works of that era as a direct result of the engagement from the public at large.  

 

Many of those who engage with the pieces often claim in comments to 'remember' hearing a work when they were children, or profess to 'knowing' the fictitious creators from the point in the timeline presented.

 

We have observed that, at a certain density of such affirming engagement, there manifests a collective shift and seemingly all doubt about the verisimilitude of the work is quieted.

 

At this point the piece can be considered 'integrated' into the time-line and one could argue that the past has been successfully 'altered'. 

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One central purpose of the project is to demonstrate how easily our connection with the past can be permanently severed in an increasingly pan-digital age and how we can accept and believe information not due to any actual strong evidence but by simply adopting and validating the collective consensus.