In the video installation The Garden of Earthly Delights, Juan Ortiz-Apuy proposes an abstract and artificial garden of material pleasures in which is presented a collage of unboxing videos from the YouTube Web platform. In this fragmented compilation of images, people film themselves as they unpack and manipulate products. Various inert and living things—cables, watches, luxury shoes, fruits, live animals—flit across the screen. Ortiz-Apuy develops a constellation of fantastical and obsessive relationships connected to the merchandise, which, by the same token, seems to become detached from questions of production and monetary value. The Garden of Earthly Delights draws a curious portrait of consumer society, a portrait in which human interaction with things ultimately becomes a form of socialization.

Exhibited work(s):
The Garden of Earthly Delights (2019)

Born

1980, San José, Costa Rica

Countries / Nations

Costa Rica / Canada

Lives

Montréal, Canada

Website

juanortiz-apuy.com