Current Projects
Articles of Comfort
A selection of works from Eva Pushkova's 2024 project, Articles of Comfort.
Precious Boxes (Article of Comfort #1), 2024
Held (Article of Comfort #2), 2024
Watering a Stick (Article of Comfort #3), 2024
Lighter (Article of Comfort #4), 2024
Beacon/View (Article of Comfort #5), 2024
About Artcles of Comfort
This collection, Articles of Comfort, is about the lived experience of grief and the things one does to learn to carry it. Images, concepts and visions that have helped sustain hope and build resilience in the face of grief have been transformed into tufted wool rugs. The rugs are touchable -- they seek to embody comfort in their softness and warmth and color and texture.
#midjourneytomeatspace
A selection of works from Eva Pushkova's 2022-2023 project, #midjourneytomeatspace.
TikTok Dopamine, 2023
Repetitive Stress Injuries, 2023
Influencer Influenza, 2023
VR Headset, 2022
Turntable, 2022
Headphones, 2022
Nintendo 64 Controller, 2022
80s Computer, 2022
DSLR Camera, 2022
About #midjourneytomeatspace
I've observed that many of us who work in technology seek something physical and messy and tactile to balance it out. The last few decades have seen an enormous renewal of interest in handmade arts, paralleling the explosive growth of digital society, as all of us try to find more balance.
There's something about the space where the two meet - the friction and synergy between technology and handwork - that is fascinating to me.
These rugs were made in that space. The designs were created in collaboration with Midjourney AI by fine-tuning hundreds of language prompts. These AI-designed rugs were then created by hand using a tufting gun and reclaimed and thrifted wool. Some rugs are in the form of technological objects to heighten the contrast with the ancient and tactile art of rugmaking. Others feature Midjourney AI's interpretation of aspects of digital society.
The name for this project is inspired by the language and concepts of early cyberpunk novels, which first explored the travel and boundaries between virtual environments (cyberspace) and the concrete world (meatspace). Much of the technology we use today was first imagined in books and then made real by software and technology designers. This work echoes that process, taking technology-created images and creating physical objects.
In this moment of conversation and controversy about Artificial Intelligence, this project seeks to blur the lines further - giving these "imaginary" images a physical reality, and creating a partnership between AI and the hand, eye and tools of a human artist.