Crown Juuls

2023. Three-channel video installation (color, sound), media player, screen or projector. 2 min., seamless loop.
A sisyphean robotic character exercises in floating ships that look like regal crowns. Upon closer inspection, these crowns are composed of devices such as fitness trackers and stationary bikes; web-connected devices tracking intimate bodily data. Crown Juuls suggests a close relationship between the surveillance state and authority, and obsessions with health and fitness in the digital age.
Still from Crown Juuls by Jonathan Monaghan, showing red velvet and Apple watches. Still from Crown Juuls by Jonathan Monaghan, showing a robotic figure bench pressing weights in Baroque room. Still from Crown Juuls by Jonathan Monaghan, showing a red robotic figure running on a treadmill. Photo of Jonathan Monaghan's 2023 video art installation Crown Juuls, showing three channels of projections in dark space. Still from Crown Juuls by Jonathan Monaghan, showing a red robotic figure running on a treadmill, beige windows. Still from Crown Juuls by Jonathan Monaghan, showing a beige crown and e-scooters. Photo of Jonathan Monaghan's 2023 video art installation Crown Juuls, showing a transparent LED screen with pink crown. Photo of Jonathan Monaghan's 2023 video art installation Crown Juuls, showing a transparent LED screen with pink crown.

installation view from OLED Art Wave: Long Dream, Scène Space, Seoul, Korea, 2023