The source of the light remains unclear — it is both threatening and seductive, a symbol of the unknown that no one dares to confront.

The inhabitants do not go outside but retreat further inward. They build their own walls, their own digital cave. The title The Modern Cavemen refers to Plato’s allegory of the cave: humanity as the prisoner of its own perception.

In the 3D animation, the viewer looks as though through a peephole. The camera moves from one room to another, accompanied by an ominous soundscape by Norman Hoffman. Scary smileys float through the image — ironic symbols of a virtual culture that masks fear with cheerfulness. The result is a claustrophobic dream world in which technology and fear go hand in hand.

The nine painted works hung in a darkened room that enclosed the viewer like a cave.

The video played in sync with sound, while red light and smoke brought the ominous glow from the digital works to life. The space evoked a sense of collective confinement — as if one were in a shelter, waiting for something happening outside that never became visible.

At the entrance, scary smiley pins were laid out — the same symbols that floated through the virtual scenes. Visitors were invited to pin one onto themselves: a playful yet ambiguous gesture, since the smile carried within it the threat of conformity. Outside the room, three camera viewpoints — echoes of the perspectives used in the paintings — were displayed on flatscreens. In this way, the viewer became both participant and observer of their own presence within the “cave space.”

Within this installation, the works Digital Pillory and Camera Ball were brought together under the title Bug and Ball. Both emphasized the themes of control and visibility: seeing and being seen as two inseparable sides of the same system.