By Ines Alpha via @2055aesthetics.
It’s the year 2019, the seminal sci-fi flick The Matrix has turned 20-years-old and cyborg aesthetics are well and truly having a moment — one need only look as far the barrage of gleaming, futuristic filters (check out Esmay Wagemans’ filter for SLEEK here) to see the truth in that. If you’re looking for tantalising cyborgian fashions, futuristic architecture and shining examples of advanced technologies, then look no further than @2055aesthetics — a blindingly brilliant Instagram dedicated to all things futuristic. We caught up with the account’s creator, 20-year-old Jake Atlas about his account’s forward-looking aesthetic and just why it is that cyborgs are our go-to fashion inspiration at the moment.
Why did you start @2055aesthetics?
I started the page last year in April, when I was still in university. I used to search for a particular kind of aesthetic with a friend of mine to illustrate both of our upcoming musical projects. There was a lot of interesting content left in the dust on Tumblr, so I decided to highlight some of them with the amazing tool Instagram is.
How would you describe the aesthetic?
I wanted to do a tribute to the human race through these pictures: to highlight human ability to create to its finest — the way humans can turn raw material into technical objects and art for the purpose of evolution and culture.
Dealing with a futuristic aspect was obvious to me: it was the best way to show how far humans can push the limits of creativity, design, intelligence and progress. I don’t have any specific name to call that aesthetic, it has so many ones: futurism, cyberpunk, Y2K, new life, accelerationism…
The account obviously has a cyborg aspect to it. What do you think it is about this aesthetic that particularly appeals now?
Even a year ago, nobody was really into cyber/futuristic trends and visuals. Not because nobody liked it, but because it wasn’t popular. In 2018, we left behind four years of vaporwave aesthetics, and gothic vibes were getting really popular because of the Soundcloud rap scene. I was kind of tired of it, and knew many people were too. I think this account is a bridge for everybody who needs a fresh change and a new vision to explore.
Where do you find inspiration? What sort of things inspire the aesthetic of the account specifically?
Music, cinema, fashion but mostly life itself. To me, this aesthetic is literally related to our actual world, earth and social issues. That’s also why I called the page “2055.” Global warming and pollution are a real thing, I try to speak about it by posting refineries, desert pictures, ghost towns, or cataclysms.
We also live a beautiful era of diversity, and typical community cultures are a gold mine to feed this page. I recently posted an image of three women draped in a yellow reflecting burqa that blew up really fast. It’s my favorite part of the work: when people appreciate something quite different, breaking any barrier of incomprehension.
Why the caption “post-nostalgy” ?
I found that oxymoron cool: the fact I can feel some nostalgia by seeing these pictures. I see time flowing away, saying goodbye, and then going into the future. I find it back in 2055, looking at me like something from the past. It brings me a kind of a “post-nostalgy” of my actual world.
And hope some people feel it this way too!
Do you think we are moving further into a cyborgian future?
These aesthetics seem to look futuristic, but in reality most of them already exist in real life. Many pics are taken in our actual era, on earth. So without knowing it, we already are in a cyborg/futuristic era. Just look at fashion, the latest Dior collection or any Margiela piece, for example.
Cyborgs are actual too, I think about artists like Stelarc or Neil Harbisson, who founded a huge cyborg institute, growing more and more these decades. But, of course, for most it’s still a niche, we may have to wait a bit more… see you in 2055!