‘Blue Screen of Death’, a handwoven tapestry made up of hand dyed wool, depicts the infamous BSOD that Windows operating system users would see when their computer had encountered a critical error. In an ever-online world, ‘Blue Screen of Death,’ takes this recognisable imagery and turns it on its head, instead describing a critical error within humanity and offering an ultimatum. From a distance, the work looks almost digital in nature, the dithering of the blue dye creating the impression of an old computer screen. Upon closer inspection, the true craftsmanship and weeks of weaving become visible. The labour-intensive process adds to the meaning behind the text - in a world of digital immediacy, mindless scrolling of 5 second videos, and savings of posts never to be viewed again, ‘Blue Screen of Death’ finds importance and meaning in its permeance.
‘Blue Screen of Death,’ draws its inspiration from digital culture, the ever-omnipotent hellscape that is social media, online news articles, push notifications of increasingly horrifying magnitude and anxious self-pondering about the longevity of the world’s survival in the current political climate. Whilst not referencing any one particular political issue, the work forces the viewer to speculate about the issues that could have led to such a critical error within humanity. Is it the destruction of human rights, cultural genocide, climate change, abolition of democracy, or any other host of issues that are happening around the globe? “Blue Screen of Death” draws from a concept plaguing us since 1985. It has become so intrinsic to our concept of digital collapse that any inference remains chronic and personal - an inference that is put directly to the viewer.
As such, ’Blue Screen of Death’ is not just a reminder, it’s a call to action. As with the digital context of the error’s origin, does the user receive the ultimatum, give up and move on? Or, 41 years later, is it finally time to seek to remedy for the situation?