Press release -
THE MACHINE IS US
The Machine is Us is an ambitious group exhibition with contemporary artists from Norway and abroad. In the exhibition, a total of 25 artists reflect in different ways on how new technology affects us, both as individuals and as a community.
Tulips cultivated with heat from data processing, block-chain sculptures made of sticks, and fast food for the machines of the future. The exhibition displays work by artists who examine the social impacts of new technologies and sketch imaginative future scenarios for a society in the midst of digital transformation. Today, humans encounter much of the world through technology, which organizes our everyday existence and pervades our social lives. If we are online 24/7, where does the distinction between humans and machines lie?
A majority of the works in the exhibition are commissions, including site-specific works that take the surroundings of MUNCH and its collection as a point of departure. Before entering visitors can use their phones to view an Augmented Reality monster truck shaped like a rat parked outside the museum, and follow the financial speculation of a computer that simultaneously heats a greenhouse. In the lobby, a virtual reality environment allows people to travel back in time and view the landscape of Oslo around the museum before it became inhabited by human beings. Visitors can also experience Edvard Munch’s works in a new, virtual context, using a dedicated mobile app, and view a sunrise over Ukraine created by machine learning.
The artists included in The Machine Is Us explore a wide range of issues associated with social media manipulation, changes in vision and visibility as the result of digital image technologies, and the role of spirituality in the age of artificial intelligence. They inquire into the erosion of image rights, the impact of automation on societal institutions and challenges to personal relationships. Visitors are also invited to imagine an alternative, sometimes absurd, future scenarios, including teleporting as a method of migration, AI as a god, and parallel worlds where unequal power structures have been eroded, the natural world remains untouched, and all living beings have eternal life.
- The Machine is Us is an important part of MUNCH's ambitious commitment to contemporary art, and it is a pleasure to finally open the exhibition. Together with the rest of the curatorial team, I have had the pleasure of working closely with some of today's most exciting artists, both in Norway and internationally, who reflect on the relationship between art and technology. The fact that we have so many commissioned works means that the public gets to experience something completely new, and often created especially for our museum here in Oslo, says Tominga O'Donnell, senior curator for contemporary art at MUNCH.
See the list of the 25 artists participating in the exhibition here
Notes to editors:
MUNCH TRIENNALE: The Machine is Us – a group exhibition that will be launched in a new form every third year. A new socially relevant thematic will be developed for each edition. The theme for 2022 is the role of technology in contemporary society.
Most of the exhibition can be seen on Level 3 of MUNCH, although some works will be shown elsewhere.
The exhibition consists of 22 artworks in a range of different media and materials, including video, sculpture, drawing, painting, video gaming, VR installations and mobile apps. The majority of the artworks have been commissioned especially for the exhibition.
Approximately half of the 25 artists are based in Norway.
The artists participating in the 2022 exhibition are Cory Arcangel, Salome Asega, Meriem Bennani, Zach Blas, Gillian Brett, Victoria Durnak, Harun Farocki, Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze, Silje Linge Haaland, Maryam Jafri, Toril Johannessen, Agnieszka Kurant, Cameron MacLeod, Magnhild Øen Nordahl, Frida Orupabo, Michael Rahbek Rasmussen, Bella Rune, Jacolby Satterwhite, Helle Siljeholm, Hito Steyerl, Pilvi Takala, Miloš Trakilovic, Ayatgali Tuluebek, Lesia Vasylchenko and Lu Yang.
The title is taken from A Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway, which was originally published in 1985. The term “cyborg” is a contraction of “cybernetic organism” and refers to a hybrid being that is part human and part machine, a blend of biology and technology. The exhibition brings together artworks that transcend any artificial division between humans and the digital devices that increasingly permeate our lives. In the words of Haraway: “The machine is not an it to be animated, worshipped and dominated. The machine is us, our processes, an aspect of our embodiment.”
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MUNCH is home to the world's largest collection of works by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. 22 October 2021, MUNCH will open in a brand new building on Oslo’s waterfront. The bespoke structure, designed by estudio Herreros, will house more than 26,000 works that Edvard Munch bequeathed to the City of Oslo. The museum also manages collections donated by Rolf Stenersen, Amaldus Nielsen and Ludvig Ravensberg.
The new museum will trace the artist’s profound influence both on modern art and on artists through to the present day. Alongside displays of iconic artworks from the renowned permanent collection, temporary exhibitions will show Edvard Munch’s lasting influence in his own contemporary society, as well as on today’s generation of artists.
Visitors will experience the highlights of Edvard Munch’s oeuvre, in parallel with a wide-ranging programme of cultural events and experiences for visitors of all ages. From its location in Bjørvika, with unparalleled views of the Oslo Fjord, the museum will offer an extensive program of art and cultural experiences across thirteen floors.
