Acceptance criteria

The trappings of past cultures are all around us, morphed and made nearly unrecognizable over centuries. Two thousand years ago, the Romans crucified criminals, weaving the cross into the fabric of western cultures. In the same era, scribes saved time by turning the Latin word “et” into the stylized ampersand that still sits at the top of our keyboards. In the “Clear History” series, I’ve tried to trace the ways in which today’s technologies will reverberate over time. What will grow from the seeds we plant today? What becomes a venerated symbol? What serves as a cautionary myth? As we look back at the oracle of Delphi or the Roman forum, attempting to connect with a culture that remains just out of reach, so do the diminutive figures in these works, standing in the future, staring at the remains of a past that has come and gone.