Media artists Daniela Vargas and Lehel Lajos met in Cali, Colombia, where they began a dialogue about past works and shared fascinations. A recurring motif emerged: the trap—seen as a strategic setup with concealed elements unknown to the subject it ensnares.
Wherever a trap exists, its counterpart—the red line—also appears, signalling a triggering device that activates the mechanism, often without the victim’s awareness. In this way, the trap becomes a mechanism of control, limiting choice and movement until the subject is immobilized and examinable.
The artists draw a parallel to social media, which they interpret as a contemporary form of entrapment. The illusion of connection fosters voluntary exposure, dissolving personal boundaries. This erosion of intimacy, they suggest, unfolds alongside the restriction of physical space contributing to a broader condition of alienation. Grounded in a phenomenological approach, their collaboration seeks to express these insights by confronting abstract concepts with day-to-day, embodied experience.
No Longer Not Yet features a bed—a familiar place that symbolizes intimacy and our inner world. Split into two halves, it becomes a space of tension, where a choreography of attraction and repulsion unfolds. The halves move, but never fully touch or come to rest—they remain in an in-between state, suspended between what was and what is yet to come.
Supported by the exchange residency program Cali to Karlsruhe, a project of the UNESCO Creative Cities of Media Arts Cali and Karlsruhe.
Shown at Media art is here (14.08.2025 – 14.09.2025) in Karlsruhe.
