Artificial Universe

Peter Deckers, solo exhibition at The National, Christchurch, 03 Sep – 27 Sep 2025

The Structures of Desire and the Fragile Architectures of Belief

In my constellation of the universe, the artificial is not dismissed—it’s reimagined. Faux opals, imitation stones, lab‑made materials: not substitutes, but provocations. These works explore our impulse to replicate, to assign value, to believe. Imitation becomes reflection, not deception—a mirror held to systems of desire, belief, and worth.

The simulated becomes a rehearsal of reality’s many faces, a staging ground where multiplicities of perception unfold. To live with the artificial is to acknowledge that reality itself is layered, mediated, and never singular. The artificial is not counterfeit but companion, a parallel gesture that multiplies how we see and believe.

This reimagining sits alongside a wider, almost cosmic question: what if the universe is not made of many things, but one thing appearing in many forms? Physicist John Archibald Wheeler suggested in 1940 that the uncanny sameness of electrons—so identical that no experiment can tell them apart—might point to a deeper unity. He wondered whether every electron we encounter is simply one electron, looping through time, weaving a single worldline so densely across the cosmos that it appears multiplied. From Wheeler’s perspective, the universe is not crowded with particles but animated by one traveller, seen again and again from different angles in time.

If this is true—even metaphorically—then the distinction between natural and artificial becomes less about essence and more about the stories we attach to matter. Both are arrangements of the same underlying substance, yet we rank them through inherited narratives of worth. These rankings are not neutral; they are cultural constitutions, craft hierarchies, and systems of acceptance that decide what is allowed to be called “real,” “authentic,” or “valuable.”

The man‑made, when inspired by the natural without exploiting it, becomes a form of homage. It is not extraction but resonance. Crafted echoes—materials left where they are supposed to be—become celebrations of human ingenuity aligned with care. In this practice, the artificial becomes a site of imagination, a reimagining of value beyond scarcity or possession.

Much of my work begins with materials considered low value, artificial, or discarded—substances assumed to be lesser. Through making, I reconfigure their status: labour becomes alchemy, attention becomes transformation. Time itself becomes a collaborator, revealing that value is not extracted from rarity but generated through relationship, repetition, and care. These works appear expensive and real but are not—their supports, such as necklace cords, are crafted over hours, while custom jewellery rings suggest luxury yet are produced cheaply in multiples. In this space, imitation is not a lesser copy but a truth‑telling gesture, a provocation that reveals the structures of desire and the fragile architectures of belief.

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