Weapons of Mass Distraction: A reflection on Difference Machines, an exhibition at Wrightwood 659

Carlos Matallana

March 13, 2024 · Bilingual, Columns + Series, Comics, Exhibitions

Tech and its evolution from tools to wearable devices, its nano privacy disruption, its future without us is presented in a dream from el Tío. A dream illustrated by Carlos Matallana in response to ‘Difference Machines: Technology and Identity in Contemporary Art’ at Wrightwood 659.

Tío standing in a dreamed state looking at a computer monitor that reads "DHCP Request Sent, attempt 1: A reflection on. 'Difference Machines', an exhibition at Wrightwood 659." Above the monitor's conversation bubble is a pop up screen that shows a man telling Tío "Apparently it is the latest thing...". All characters are drawn as black figures with a grey and white backgrounds.

Monitor screen's conversation bubbles that read "I look like the one you have at work! Only sleeker. Take me home!" "You see, I am endless." "Did I bore you? There is plenty to learn." Tío is being sucked in and responds "I need to sleep. Wait am I talking to a machine?" as he heads out of the panel. Background is white and grey and resemble computer screen pop-up messages.

Monitor screen's conversation bubbles that read "Good morning! News? Gossip? Games?" "Interesting right? Have something to say? Tío is being sucked in. Computer monitor continues by saying "Tu Valiosa opinión ha recibido varias respuestas" "People really understand you. You guys can change the world" and Tío heads out of the panel. Background is white and grey and resemble computer screen pop-up messages.

Tío staring into a padlet that has conversation bubbles coming out of it that say "I'm like the one you have at home!" "Pero portable!" a cloud then covers Tío's face while he's walking and staring at his phone that say's "It feels good to be by your side" "You can build a community. On the go."

Spread continues with Tío looking at a picture on his phone screen of a stack of pancakes and cloud saying "Remember, phone eats first." In the following square which has a dark blue background three hands are holding phones and recording someone playing the guitar with a conversation bubble that says "Remember, you need proof that you were here" clouds begin to multiply as they exclaim "Why look for a community when you can get an audience?" "Want more like? Post Again." "Congratulations! 10k steps to nowhere." "Left wing, right wing" "Chicken wing!" and a yellow chicken runs away.

Cloud is admiring a pair of virtual reality glasses which have text bubbles that say "I will correct your posture." "Yo soy el futuro" the cloud then travels into Tío's head saying "Imagine all the things you can do without moving from your seat" a figure with a wind blower then appears telling a stoic Tío "Disculpe señor, usted se atravesó y yo estoy trabajando"

Tío is awoken to "Shhhh...You snore like a leaf blower man! shhhh...tío" and he's back on his wheelchair at a lecture with a crowd of people listening to a presenter say "...and thank you for coming today" Tío and fam are pressing on what looks like an elevator button and conversation between cousins reads "Me encanta la modestia de la fachada de esta edificio, considering all the amazing artwork housed here" "It reminds me of my elementary classmate Wei Zhang who asked us to call him John."

Weapons of Mass Distraction in bold neon green font with comic creation credit to Carlos Matallana. His three fictional characters were all drawn in black outlines in this spread. Within three squares they exchange, "This exhibition reflects with clarity the origin of the current state of the web." "Great compilation of conversations and critical multimedia essays that get burried under news making their case against fake news." "...plus the opinion of each 'smart' phone user, in every language in every country." — All original arte hecho by Carlos Matallana for Sesenta, 2024.

Carlos Matallana Portrait made by his teenage children Marcela and Samuel Matallana, 2021.

About the artist: Carlos Matallana’s (He/Him) illustration tool is ink/pen on paper, He relies on high contrast and its expressionism qualities. Like an anonymous quiet observant, he prefers to illustrate his characters from the back. He enjoys illustrating full body characters standing or in movement, revealing attitudes and feelings through posture or even clothing instead of facial expressions. He published the graphic novel Brea https://manualofviolence.org/ in 2018. Instagram @tropipunk