Photo: Angela von Brill
im-mortal
15 September 2021, 6 pm
Beyond Space and Time: Enduring in the Endless Loop of Permanent Presence
Lecture with Dr. Belinda Grace Gardner, art theorist, Hamburg
(in German)
In the constant ‘now’’ of the digital era, time is non-linear and detached from the body. The dominance of virtuality over actuality through a “logic of the image in real time” (Paul Virilio) gives way to an all-encompassing timelessness. In this dissolution of chronology, reality and the images that mediate and emerge from it almost completely blend. The endless present in the net provides the prospect of an existence beyond time and space. For all calculable eternity, we continue to live in the visual realities we have logged into, even if we no longer exist in the physical world.
Dr. Belinda Grace Gardner, art theorist. Grew up in the United States and in Germany. Studied literature and linguistics at the University of Göttingen. Received a doctorate in art theory and visual studies at the Braunschweig University of Art with a dissertation on figurations of the ephemeral in current art. Based in Hamburg as a freelance art critic, author, lecturer, and independent curator, publishing extensively in catalogs and books, as well as in print, radio, and online media in the field of contemporary art.
from creatures to creators
Saelia Aparicio, Samara Daioub & Zion König, Ed Fornieles, Pakui Hardware, Alfred Kubin, Mary Maggic, Bernard Picart, Tabita Rezaire, Amalia Ulman, Emmanuel Van der Auwera, Steffen Zillig
Death has recently come disturbingly close. Inevitably, as a result of the global pandemic, everyone is somehow confronted with mortality. However, it is not only because of the current situation that the desire for a long life has taken on a completely new meaning.
Through the paradigm of science, death is no longer a divine decree, but rather a technical challenge. According to the latest findings of biogerontologists, the life span can already be extremely extended with the help of the right tools. There are, for example, “biohackers” who are researching ways to intervene in the human organism to improve its performance, optimize the body or manipulate the DNA. Transhumanists likewise are increasingly seeking to overcome biological limitations through technological solutions. Inevitably, the question arises whether the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) on a par with humans does not actually mean the end of Homo sapiens.
The exhibition from creatures to creators explores concepts of humanity with regard to our future subsistence. It assembles international artists who, from multiple angels, shed a light on ways of dealing with our human existence, including future conceptions of it, and also dare to conjure visions going beyond the finite, conceiving the superhuman. Spanning installations, sculptures, murals and video works, the exhibition thus combines a wide range of artistic approaches, negotiating complex subject matter such as invisible lines of molecular (bio)power, processes of self-optimization, spiritual healing and the prospect of eternal life.
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