Ain’t Free | Georgy Roxby Smith

Ain’t Free (2020) by Georgie Roxby Smith is the first video presented inside the program of FILTRO, the third edition of DIGITAL VIDEO WALL curated by Gemma Fantacci. The program proposes a survey in the artistic field of the research results of five international artists on the tools offered by digital. FILTRO (filter) is intended in its double meaning: as a device that allows real or virtual changes to be made, and as a lens through which we experience an altered vision of reality.

For this chapter of Digital Video Wall Georgie Roxby Smith presents Ain’t Free, a video that explores the interactions between the physical and virtual worlds with a particular focus on gender representation and the violence of video games, especially concerning the figure of women, on screen and inside online communities. In Ain’t Free the artist reveals the farce that lurks in the world of online video games: taking Second Life as a field of investigation and action, the Australian artist explores the carnival emptiness of unbridled capitalism and the desire to present the best version of oneself and of one’s life. This brings the various players to an incessant purchase and to a constant modification of their physical characteristics. The offline self finds itself trapped in its own ego and embalmed in the infinite loop of a boorish capitalism that does not seem to have an end.

© Georgie Roxby Smith, Ain’t Free, Still, 2020

05/02/2022