If we were to travel 500 years into the future, what would the monuments decorating public parks and town squares commemorate? Thomas Doyle takes us on an unnerving journey to imagine the culture we might encounter should our endless fascination with technology continue.

The New York-based artist (previously) toys with perception as he sculpts miniature works at 1:43 scale and smaller. His new dystopian series, Clear History, invokes classical Greek and Roman sculpture, although the venerated figures appear more as a warning than an ideal. Sharp rays pierce through a woman’s head in “Clickthrough rate,” for example, while the hunched protagonist of “Opt in” demonstrates the neck-cranking posture many of us know all too well.

a miniature figure looks up at an antique statue with a device strapped to her face“Infinite scroll” (2024), mixed media, 22 x 13.8 x 13.8 centimeters

Interested in the long tail of culture, Doyle frequently looks to the past to better understand the consequences of our present. “I’m fascinated by the way we are hurtling toward what seems to be a new way of being human, leaping without looking, hoping for the best,” he says.

In each of the mixed-media scenes, tiny figures peer up at or sit near the weathered statues as they consider a world that’s come and gone. “The trappings of past cultures are all around us, morphed and made nearly unrecognizable over centuries,” the artist adds. “I’ve tried to trace the ways in which today’s technologies will reverberate over time. What will grow from the seeds we plant today? What becomes a venerated symbol? What serves as a cautionary myth?”

Doyle currently has a few models on view at the Ukrainian National Museum in Chicago, and he very generously shares glimpses behind the scenes on Instagram.

a miniature person sitting at the base of a figurative statue whose face melds into a phone“Acceptance criteria” (2024), mixed media, 21 x 15 x 15 centimeters

a small figure looks up at a statuesque figure hunched over with their face half inside a screen“Opt in” (2024), mixed media, 20 x 20 x 20 centimeters

miniature figures look up at a headless antique statue holding a round object“Switch profile” (2024), mixed media, 20 x 12.5 x 12.5 centimeters

a miniature person sitting at the base of a figurative statue whose face is a QR code“Show hidden” (2024), mixed media, 28 x 30 x 30 centimeters

a miniature person sitting at the base of a figurative statue who holds an explosion in one palm and an hourglass in the other“Session timeout” (2024), mixed media, 25 x 14.5 x 14.5 centimeters

a large statue with long hair covering her face holds two wifi symbols in her hands while a small figure looks up from below“Bad gateway” (2024), mixed media, 20 x 17.5 x 17.5 centimeters

a miniature person looking at a figurative statue whose face melds into a phone“Use case” (2024), mixed media, 20 x 14 x 14 centimeters

miniature figures look up at a seated statue with a glitch for a head“Temporary redirect” (2024), mixed media, 21 x 26 x 26 centimeters

a miniature person looking at three figurative statues with circular cutouts“We value your privacy” (2024), mixed media, 28 x 17.5 x 17.5 centimeters

a miniature person sitting at the base of a figurative statue who is blindfolded with a spear in her hand and an explosion coming from her hand“Rollback” (2024), mixed media / 20 x 16 x 16 centimeters

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