Digital technologies were supposed to help us achieve a more egalitarian society and mobilize individuals through equal accessibility, freedom of expression, and new means of social communication and relationships. But the affordances of digital systems along with the emergence of techno-capitalism, fueled by neoliberal values and ideas, realized a radically different scenario.
Jonathan Crary writes in his book “Scorched Earth”: “The disaster is the irredeemable incompatibility of online operations with friendship, love, community, compassion, the free play of desire, or the sharing of doubt and pain. Many of these disappear, or they become recomposed into depleted simulations, drained of their singularity and ineffability, permeated with absence and shallowness. There is no joy or sorrow, no beauty or exuberance on the internet. One can find poems, but no poetry. How can we gauge the full consequences of so drastically confining the richness and limitlessness of human potentiality within the desolation and monotony of digital systems?”
Beauty filters, instantly changeable avatars, cyber tribalism, new forms of stereotypes, and simulations that obscure the flaws, limitations, imperfections, and mistakes of real human beings are all the outcomes of digital reductionism and techno-capitalism. So, it’s crucial to reflect on the questions such as:
– What is the meaning of individual identity and the self in the post-digital era?
– How can we restore the emotive aspects of relationships as one of the fundamental conditions of human existence?
– What are the political, economic, and cultural impacts of these rapid changes on society and humanity?
– How can we counteract the mentioned issues?
[SaaS] is presented as XOR Space pavilion at the 6th edition of The Wrong Biennale from November 1st, 2023 to March 1st, 2024.
Artists
Agnieszka Pajda (Poland)
Benna Gaean Maris (Belgium)
Bronco Wewer (Germany)
Daniel Mendez Ruiz (Cuba)
Danny Choi (South Korea)
Enzo Cillo & Ambasce (Italy)
Eugenia Grammenou (Greece)
Gianella Cubas (Italy)
Irena Paskali (Macedonia/Germany)
Jaina Cipriano (USA)
James Johnson-Perkins (Hampshire)
Jean-Michel Rolland (France)
Jose Cruzio & António Caramelo (Portugal)
Jürgen Trautwein & Silvia Nonnenmacher (USA)
Katherina Sadovsky (Russia)
Katherine Mills Rymer (Denmark)
Naichen Pan (USA)
Nina Sumarac (Cyprus)
Pierre Ajavon (France)
Ricardo Bodini (Argentina)
S4RA (Portugal)
Sarah Boulter (UK)
Sarah Lasley (USA)
Saša Nemec (Slovenia)
Sohyun Lee (South Korea)
Susanne Layla Petersen (Denmark)
Szabina Péter & Kristóf Bodnár (Hungary)
Thomas Valianatos (Greece)
Viviane Roi (Taiwan)
Weiyu CHEN (China / based in Geneva)
X.A. Li (USA)
Soundscape Design
Farzané using Énacteur, trained on Saxophone played by Cláudio Silva Pereira
ART Direction, Technical Development
XOR Space
Explore the exhibition
XOR Space pavilion at TheWrong Biennale