Classics of tomorrow

Adam's Olympus trip: how the iPod got classical
The Sleeping Gamer rests after long day on the Xbox.

The Sleeping Gamer rests after long day on the Xbox.
* Atlas carries the weight of a giant iPod on his shoulders.
* Pan, the Greek god of nature, jives to the tunes of his iPod.
* The king of the gods, Zeus, calls down the thunder using his iPhone.
* The Sleeping Gamer rests after long day on the Xbox.

Asher Moses
August 21, 2009

What if Zeus called down the thunder using his iPhone, or Pan, the Greek god of nature, serenaded his nymphs with an iPod instead of a flute?

These are the questions that inspired Californian sculptor Adam Reeder, whose latest project, Socio-Technic Evolution, puts a high-tech spin on classical sculpture to examine the way technology has changed how Western culture interacts with the world.

The collection of four life-size sculptures - Pan with His iPod, Zeus with His iPhone, Atlas and The Sleeping Gamer - has already won Reeder several awards and helped him graduate with a master of fine arts from San Francisco's Academy of Art University.

Reeder, 33, said he came up with the idea after his daughter turned six and, instead of asking for a Barbie, wanted an iPod.

It highlighted for him how much technology had changed childhood and our lives.

"The Greek sculptures are my symbol for Western culture ... the Greek god Pan, he would've been dancing in the woods playing his flute, so in my sculpture he's still dancing but the music is being created from a different source," he said in a phone interview.

"So the nature of it stays the same but the context changes, and technology is facilitating that change."

One interpretation of the works is that the Greek gods represent rulers from the old world, while the gadgets are our new overlords.

Reeder's Sleeping Gamer work is a play on the Sleeping Satyr, a follower of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine, who represents unrestrained revelry.

By putting a video game controller in the satyr's hand, Reeder makes a value statement, warning people against playing too many video games.

Reeder recently sold the Sleeping Gamer to Cliff Bleszinski, the creator of the Gears of War video game franchise, for $US7900.

In his sculpture of Atlas, the figure is bearing the weight of a giant iPod, not the world, on his shoulders, symbolising how ubiquitous Apple's iconic music player has become.

"Even in 30 years people are going to look at that and say, 'Hey, I remember that iPod, I know that shape - it's almost like an old Coke bottle,' " Reeder said.

He said he was tired of seeing museum and gallery visitors struggling to engage with what he says are boring classical sculptures. By adding modern technology, anyone could immediately connect with his message.

"They'll see it and I can tell they'll be like 'oh great, another Greek sculpture wannabe', and then they see the iPod and something in their eyes just sparkles, and then they smile and nudge their friend next to them and say, 'Hey, look, he's got an iPod,' " he said.

"It just breathes life into something that's been dead for all these years."

Source: smh.com.au