Clement Valla collect Google Earth images. He discovered strange moments where the illusion of a seamless representation of the Earth’s surface seems to break down. At first, he thought they were glitches, or errors in the algorithm, but looking closer he realized the situation was actually more interesting — these images are not glitches. They are the absolute logical result of the system. They are an edge condition—an anomaly within the system, a nonstandard, an outlier, even, but not an error. These jarring moments expose how Google Earth works, focusing our attention on the software. They reveal a new model of representation: not through indexical photographs but through automated data collection from a myriad of different sources constantly updated and endlessly combined to create a seamless illusion; Google Earth is a database disguised as a photographic representation. These uncanny images focus our attention on that process itself, and the network of algorithms, computers, storage

Clement Valla är född 1980 i New York. där han bor och arbetar. Han är utbildad på Rhode Island School of Design i Providence. Han har tidigare visat sina arbeten på bland annat Mulherin + Pollard, New York, Tin Sheds Gallery, Sydney och Bitforms Gallery, NewYork.