Deep Down Tidal is a net. art style video installation exploring the connection between cosmological, spiritual, political and technologica narratives intertwining it with the element of water and its role in communication. As the video essay folds out different forms of electronic colonialism: “Electronic colonialism is a domination and control of digital technologies by the west to Maine and expand the hegemonic over the rest of the world”, also machine vision technologies are weaved into this narrative.
Early in the video (0:53) the screen is filled with google searches with auto fill functions such as Why Africa does auto filled as …Why Africa doesn’t have water. Soon the screen fills with images searches scrolling down pages of mainly white people when searching for dreadlocks or children. In the background a voice in phone conversation style is stating: “This is racism”, “this is really not good”. “It is like they are not treating us equal”. “They are not treating us as a human being”. The sequence ends with the written text: “Google why u mad?” referencing to the bias of image search engines an example of electronic colonialism.
Later in the video machine vision in discussed in the context of surveillance of black bodies. Submarine cables, internet surveillance and the slave trade are weaved together using the shark as a linking element (7.38). Starting with the text: “During the transatlantic trade, sharks were following slaveships hoping to feast on African bodies thrown over board” a 3D shark swims into a collage of images of water, a slave ship and shark videos. The text narrative continues with "they now attack internet cables" and thereafter "shark cyber warfare". The background of the attacking shark now changes to a view from a drone perspective and the text states: "landscape of security"..."surveillance". Afterwards a black woman on her smartphone appears with the text "spying on your DMs" (Direct Messaging). The narrative is tied back to slavery by referencing digital labour "they made us their workforce" with the Czech origin of the word robot, rabota (servitude) and rabu ("slave").Â