The exhibition Escaping the Digital Unease, curated by Raffael Dörig, Director of Kunsthaus Langenthal, with Domenico Quaranta and Fabio Paris of the Link Art Center, explores the digital unconscious and how this has been shaped by the media in the last twenty-five years of the World Wide Web. “We do not surf the wild web anymore, but are fed with feeds, receiving more and more of the same based on algorithmic extrapolations of our preferences”.
More than thirty artists and collectives have contributed to the exhibition, many of whom were active from the very beginning of the internet, when the relationship with this medium allowed some space to build utopian futures and aimed, if anything, to be more conscious of power and the dangers deriving from possible media misuse. Now is the time to raise questions about new forms of critique, self-organized platforms and tools, a revisiting of the utopias of the early web, new networks of art, activism and friendship – the question of alternatives”. These are the words of the exhibition curators, anticipating visions that are possibly optimistic and proposing new horizons. The exhibition also features a reading room dedicated to books and art publications, which were powerful tools for creation and diffusion during the pre-internet era.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue listing the details of the works and essays on the legacy of critical internet culture and the future of the commons (Felix Stalder), on bot and artificial intelligence (Maria Lechner), on practical advice to escape the digital unease put forward by media theory (Paul Feigelfeld), and other texts by Raffael Dörig, Domenico Quaranta and Claire Hoffmann. Published in both English and German by Christoph Merian Verlag, the book will be presented on 14 October at 6.30 p.m.
«Raus aus dem digitalen Unbehagen / Escaping the Digital Unease», a cura di Raffael Dörig, Director Kunsthaus Langenthal, con Domenico Quaranta e Fabio Paris, Link Art Center, Brescia, Kunsthaus Langenthal, Svizzera, 31.08 – 13.11.2017
images: (cover 1) Elisa Giardina Papa, Technologies of Care, 2016, Installationsansicht, Courtesy of the artist (2) DISNOVATION.ORG, Shanzai Archeology, 2015–2018 Courtesy of the artists (3) Cao Fei, RMB City: A Second Life City Planning, 2007–2011, Video, 6 min. Courtesy of the artist and Vitamin Creative Space (4) Tabita Rezaire, Premium Connect, 2017, HD Video, 13 min., Videostill Courtesy of the artist
