Troika, Out of Place, Out of Time (Lands End), 2025

2025

Medium

Palladium platinum print on tosa washi paper

Dimensions

55 × 73 cm

Edition

Ed. 3/3 + 1 AP

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-156271

“Out of Place, Out of Time” brings together a series of speculative landscapes in which Troika stages unlikely encounters between geological epochs, digital processes, and speculative memory. An extinct species of Key Largo cactus appears to grow in Arctic ice or take root in tropical swamplands. The imagery evokes projections of a mechanical subconscious, fed by the collective visual memory of the Earth. These images were created using text-to-image algorithms that generate visuals from short language inputs in fractions of a second. Formally, Troika transfers these fleeting visions into a medium of physical permanence: platinum printing. This 19th-century photographic process uses platinum and palladium salts—materials employed in the early days of photography as well as in today's semiconductor technology. The choice of this durable medium gives the image a material presence that extends far beyond the ephemeral input of digital algorithms. A paradoxical alliance that renegotiates the relationship between time, memory, and image production. Troika deliberately draws on the tradition of early landscape photography, such as Timothy O'Sullivan's 19th-century expeditions. But while months of travel were necessary back then, today a short command to a neural network is enough to discover new terrains. Troika's imaginary biotopes negotiate not only geographical disorientation, but also a shift in our understanding of reality: What does “nature” mean when it is not only represented but also reconstructed through algorithmic processes? Which images and narratives emerge and which are lost in the process? “Out of Place, Out of Time” thus creates a topography of uncertainty. The series reflects not only on this new form of digital access to nature, but also on its ecological costs: computing power, energy consumption, and rare minerals lie behind the apparent immateriality of digital image production.