Linn Phyllis Seeger, true idle

Linn Phyllis Seeger, an artist renowned for her conceptual depth and her unconventional engagement with technology, is currently exhibiting her latest body of work, "true idle," at Shipton Gallery. Despite an admitted inability to drive, Seeger harbors a profound and multifaceted fascination with automobiles, a theme that permeates her artistic practice. This exhibition, running from March 18 to April 4, delves into the intersection of personal archives, automotive imagery, and the pervasive influence of Silicon Valley’s narrative of progress.

The genesis of "true idle" can be traced back to Seeger’s recent residency at Shipton Gallery, a three-month period that provided fertile ground for her exploration of automobiles and their symbolic resonance with digital culture. Her previous work, such as the 2024 film The (Un)event (side c), which critically examined the virtual traffic depicted on Google Maps, signals a consistent engagement with the digital representation of movement and connection. "true idle" amplifies this interest by presenting a series of short, often disjointed video clips, culled from the depths of Seeger’s personal iCloud archive. These fragments, accumulated over a decade, predominantly capture fleeting moments experienced from the passenger seat of vehicles belonging to "past lovers and friends." The resulting imagery is evocative: snaking red taillights in traffic jams, landscapes blurring into abstract patterns, or the stark silhouette of a lorry against a setting sun.

H2: Sculptural Interventions and Archival Echoes

The exhibition’s title, "true idle," hints at a state of being – a pause, a contemplation – that stands in contrast to the relentless drive for advancement often espoused by the tech industry. Seeger’s sculptural approach in "true idle" is as integral to the narrative as the video content itself. The clips are not merely displayed but are embedded within discarded car parts, forming what she describes as "provisional" sculptures. These assemblages are held together with utilitarian workshop equipment, including clamps and bungee straps, emphasizing a sense of impermanence and makeshift construction. This aesthetic choice underscores Seeger’s critique of the often-glossy and polished presentation of technological progress.

The serendipitous connection to automotive elements was further solidified by the gallery’s founder, whose family possesses a background in black cab operations. This familial link provided Seeger with access to a wealth of car parts from their workshops, an offer she readily embraced. "He was like, ‘Yeah, you can use car parts from our workshops.’ It was a moment of serendipity," Seeger recounted, highlighting how this fortunate circumstance aligned perfectly with her existing desire to explore a more sculptural dimension for her ideas.

H2: The "Information Superhighway" and Navigational Gestures

During her residency, from January to March, Seeger meticulously traced the historical and metaphorical connections between transportation and the early internet. A pivotal example is the ubiquitous term "information superhighway," a metaphor that imbued the nascent digital realm with a sense of directed travel and progress. This was further reinforced by marketing campaigns, such as a notable 1984 Apple advertisement that encouraged consumers to "take Macintosh out for a test drive."

Seeger has deliberately inverted this metaphor, prompting a re-evaluation of the "navigational gestures" that define our online experiences today. She observes that the act of scrolling through social media feeds often evokes a feeling of forward momentum or progression, akin to traveling. The term "stream" itself suggests a continuous, forward-moving entity. However, Seeger poses a critical question: "But today, where are we really going when we’re online?" She points to the shift from a chronological feed, which offered a discernible end point, to the algorithmically curated experiences of the present. "The way the feed is organised now, algorithmically, you don’t really reach the end. There’s not a destination." This observation leads to a stark conclusion: "In 2026, the information superhighway is really a road to nowhere."

H3: Silicon Valley’s Imperial Imaginary and the Illusion of Progress

Seeger directly confronts the narrative propagated by Silicon Valley, which she characterizes as being "built on a certain imperial imaginary of progress, and how the future is unlocked through an advancement in territory and technology." This expansionist worldview, she argues, is evident in both the physical and virtual realms, as technologists and politicians actively "stake their claim" on our collective futures. Her artistic inquiry centers on the "performance of linear progress online, and how that’s kind of a fiction, because you don’t really get anywhere." This leads to a fundamental question about agency: "How do you create a future, or how do you create a path for yourself, or feel agency, in these online territories or terrains that [are] predetermined and predesigned?"

H2: Poetic Misuse and Decontextualization

While Seeger acknowledges that artists may not possess the power to fundamentally alter the way technologies are employed, she proposes an alternative approach: finding "alternative, poetic forms of using them, of misusing them, and decontextualising them." This philosophy manifests in various ways within "true idle." It could involve repurposing a car door as a sculptural object, or taking videos originally intended for social media platforms like Instagram stories and exhibiting them as fine art. This practice is the underlying genesis of many of the looping images featured in the exhibition. Ultimately, Seeger aims to present viewers with familiar online imagery, but in a "twisted" form that "derails" the usual experience, effectively driving it off the intended path.

H3: The Archive as a Mirror and a Departure Point

"Every experience I’ve had in the past 10 to 15 years has been captured on my phone," Seeger reveals, underscoring the deeply personal nature of her video archive. "I’ve built this video archive through the impulse of posting." This vast repository of captured moments, however, is not presented as a purely autobiographical narrative. Notably, the "faux found footage" deliberately omits clear traces of individuals’ faces or specific temporal or geographical markers. This omission is a conscious choice, as Seeger is less interested in the "heroic individual who drives off into the sunset" and more captivated by "the road itself, and where it may, or may not, take us."

The exhibition "true idle" offers a compelling and thought-provoking exploration of our contemporary relationship with technology, memory, and the elusive concept of progress. By recontextualizing everyday digital detritus and automotive fragments, Linn Phyllis Seeger invites viewers to question the narratives of advancement that shape our lives and to consider alternative pathways for meaning and agency in an increasingly mediated world. The exhibition at Shipton Gallery provides a timely opportunity to engage with these complex themes, prompting reflection on the destinations – or lack thereof – on the digital highways we traverse daily.