OLED for Real considers the possibilities (and impossibilities) of manifesting artificial intelligence through revised material encounters with the screen. By bringing together analogue and digital technologies in fantastical and absurd arrangements, this array of two– and three–dimensional works presents a hyper-saturated vision of the future. This glittering assemblage of objects and images combines technological detritus from the past with chemically grown crystal forms to imagine future screens as evolved, vitalist forms that are taking claim of their materiality.

The installation presents a collection of small crystal ‘screens’ made from discarded iPhone components that have been soaked in borax and copper sulphate crystal solutions. The included video works combine high-definition still images of these mutant crystal screens with super 8 animations that represent their imagined ‘thoughts’, suggesting room for future screens to be considered as independent, autonomous beings. The ultra-high gloss aluminium prints simulate the material surface of contemporary OLED screens, while the Phototec prints of enlarged super 8 animation stills indicate the presence of a dormant strand of conscious, creative thought. This complex structure of narratives disposes of convenient interpretations of the screen in favour of a new futurist translation of their existence which imagines them as unstable, vitalist entities and transformative agents.