Esther Hovers

Works

Traveling Salesman

GALLERY

Traveling Salesman, 2018-2019, 35,6 x 45,7 cm / 14 x 18 in. Screen Print on Gummed Envelope.

SYNOPSIS

Traveling Salesman is based on the simple idea of a narrative about a walk. The story is about a traveling salesman. This idea is taken from a mathematical problem called ‘The Traveling Salesman Problem’. This problem asks the following question:

‘What is the shortest route through a list of cities in which you visit each city exactly once and return to the starting city?’

We might call it a mathematical problem about movement. Contrary to the simplicity of the question, this is in fact, a notoriously difficult problem to solve. The more places one has to visit, the harder it becomes to predict the shortest route. As of yet, there is no algorithm that can predict a completely optimal solution to this problem.
In an age where there is a pervasive need for everything to be controlled and quantified, I use the city as a metaphor for the unpredictable. My aim is to create tension between the predictability of the route and the unpredictability of the city itself. Ask yourself; is a routed walk ever the same on two different days?
Apart from photography I use different visual approaches. The final work is a collection of photographs, screenprints, and image transfers. Through my work I reflect on (intangible) power structures in public space. To what extent are our movements determined by the architecture, surveillance and norms of this space? My interest is in using poetry to look at technology – so that we might relate to it on a more human level.

MATERIALS

Image transfers and screen prints on gummed envelopes and wood.

33 x 20.5 cm / 13 x 8 in. Image Transfers on wood.

WORKS – Traveling Salesman

2019