OFFLINE AND LOADINGSerwah Attafuah

Artworks
Square digital image of a still life containing objects scattered upon a black table with a metallic steel curved front edge. The image has an out-of-focus black background, dappled with soft off white and unsaturated orange blotches. The lighting in the overall image is darker with a slight pink hue. Two sharp knives, one with a yellow handle and the other with a black handle, lie in the foreground of the artwork in front of a white Nike sneaker. Scattered in the foreground and midground are used cigarettes, two large stacks of Australian fifty dollar notes, folded one-hundred dollar notes and single twenty and ten dollar notes. Half a fig, half a papaya and half an orange sit with a full pear and fig, both in front of and behind small scales and a lime green coloured Ryobi drill which is placed on its side. In the background and taking up a third of the artwork is a reflective rounded vase filled with well-lit white, and varieties of pink peonies and dark foliage.

OFFLINE AND LOADING by multidisciplinary artist, Serwah Attafuah, explores the connections between 16th-century Dutch Vanitas still lifes and contemporary Ghanaian Sakawa rituals, creating a provocative dialogue between historical European art and modern African digital spirituality.

By interweaving these disparate cultural and technological references, Attafuah invites viewers to contemplate universal themes of mortality, materialism, and the pursuit of spiritual meaning in the digital age. The work challenges the colonial gaze often applied to African practices while highlighting our enduring preoccupation with death, luxury, and the afterlife across cultures and time.

Through this contemporary memento mori, OFFLINE AND LOADING encourages reflection on our relationship with mortality and materialism in an era of digital interconnectedness, where the boundaries between physical and virtual realities continue to blur. The work confronts the user’s experiences with their mortality and raises questions about how we engage with materialism and spirituality in an increasingly technological mass hallucination.

OFFLINE

This event has concluded

  • DATES

    • FRI 30 August – SUN 29 September, 10:00 – 16:00 AEST

      Live Work AR Experience
      SAT 14 September, 12:00 – 13:00 AEST
      SAT 28 September, 12:00 – 14:00 AEST

  • LOCATION

    • Campbelltown Arts Centre (C-A-C), 1 Art Gallery Rd, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia
    • Audio Description
    • Wheelchair Accessible
    • Assistance Animal

OFFLINE 2024 is the live iteration of OFFLINE AND LOADING exploring the intersections of 16th-century Dutch Vanitas and modern Ghanaian Sakawa rituals, creating digital altars that serve as contemporary memento mori.

Through this immersive sculptural installation, physical and virtual altars serve as poignant reminders of life’s transience in our technologically saturated world.

These pieces blend traditional Vanitas symbols—skulls adorned with scarification, extinguished candles, and wilting flowers—with elements inspired by Sakawa practices and cybercrime culture. Coded manuscripts and Adinkra QR codes coexist with traditional African masks and fetish priest paraphernalia.

This mixed media installation captures the universality of death, vanity, and luxury across cultures and time, challenging viewers to confront their mortality in our increasingly digital world.

LOADING

  • DATES

    • FRI 30 August – SUN 29 September
      Available On Demand
    • Audio Description
  • Access the Audio Description of the digital experience here:

LOADING is the digital iteration of OFFLINE AND LOADING a multidisciplinary exploration in which Serwah bridges the gap between 16th-century Dutch Vanitas still lifes and contemporary Ghanaian Sakawa rituals, weaving a narrative that confronts our relationship with mortality, materialism, and spirituality in the digital age.

Through spatial digital art and mixed reality installations, Attafuah creates a liminal space where the physical and digital realms converge, challenging viewers to contemplate their own transience. By juxtaposing the cautionary “Memento Mori” of Vanitas paintings with the material aspirations of Sakawa practitioners, LOADING invites reflection on the evolving nature of human desires and spiritual practices. The work addresses the colonial gaze and questions how we engage with mortality in an increasingly interconnected world.

Digital altars serve as modern memento mori, prompting us to consider whether virtual spaces can truly fulfill spiritual needs. As viewers navigate this immersive experience, they confront cycles of decay and rebirth, ultimately facing the thin veil between our physical existence and our digital legacies.

Acknowledgement of Country
Arts House, Campbelltown Arts Centre and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands we live and work on, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung, Dharawal, and Whadjuk Noongar peoples. We extend our respects to their Elders past and present. We extend this acknowledgment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences and communities, and First Nations peoples globally.