Exhibitions, Research, Criticism, Commentary
A chronology of 3,585 references across art, science, technology, and culture
Simon Denny revives Italian Futurism’s aeropainting to explore contemporary defence industry aesthetics for “The Future” at Michael Lett, Auckland (NZ). Training AI image models on Futurist paintings, Denny presents grainy abstractions of flight, iconography, and machines peppered with snippets of Anduril, Palantir, and SpaceX marketing copy. Linking technofascist moments across a century, he explores how the “futurist dream of machinic speed, aerial traversal, and war are being revived.”
“The fee I originally received for the Windows 95 chime will now go toward helping the victims of the attacks on Gaza. If a sound can signal real change then let it be this one.”
Forensic Architecture details their work with Visualizing Abolition and Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq in World Records. Revealing the story of a 2024 UC Santa Cruz exhibition—planned before the October 7 attack on Israel—the discussants talk through the challenges of updating an exhibition about the emergency in Gaza in real-time, the efficacy of Forensic Architecture investigations, and the ethics of representing Palestinian “testimony” during ongoing genocide.
“No” rebuts authoritarianism at Berlin’s Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien with defiance from Fernando Sanchez Castillo, Pilvi Takala, SUPERFLEX, and 10 other artists. Curated by exiled media platform Meduza, it tackles themes including censorship, dictatorship, and hope. Capturing the horror of war, Sergei Prokofiev’s Hell series transforms destroyed Ukrainian landmarks—Donetsk Airport and Mariupol Theater—into fragile 3D pen memorials of Russian devastation (2023-, image).
“Israel listened to Mr. Biari’s calls and tested the AI audio tool, which gave an approximate location for where he was making his calls. Using that information, Israel ordered airstrikes to target the area on Oct. 31, 2023, killing Mr. Biari. More than 125 civilians also died in the attack.”
“The irony is that the situation in the US has started to mirror the political situation in Iraq. There are interesting comparisons to be made between Trump and Saddam Hussein. I’ve seen a regime like this before.”
“If I knew my work on transcription scenarios would help spy on and transcribe phone calls to better target Palestinians, I would not have joined Microsoft and contributed to genocide. I did not sign up to write code that violates human rights.”
In the Kunstsurfer exhibition “Greetings from Germany,” Berlin-based artist Aram Bartholl highlights the recent increase in police violence in Germany right within your browser. Using the Kunstsurfer plugin, Bartholl replaces banner ads with cropped video clips of documented instances of excessive force. The exhibition critiques conformist media, curator Heiko Schmid explains, and serves as a painful reminder of the limits of journalistic objectivity while browsing the news.
“The fact that Johannessen has made homey rugs out of military materials could be interpreted as a classic critical cross-cutting manoeuvre: two different life worlds are set against each other in order to make us take a closer look at them.”
Celebrating key 1980s works by pioneering video artist Gretchen Bender, “The Perversion of the Visual” opens at Sprüth Magers Los Angeles. Taking centre stage is Dumping Core (1984, image), the late American artist’s 13-monitor megamix of CGI, corporate logo animations, and Salvadoran Civil War photos. Untitled (Daydream Nation) (1989), a series of computer-generated fractal prints, and Ghostbusters (1984), an experiment in CGI portraiture, are also displayed.
Addressing nationalism and Arctic sovereignty, Toril Johannessen’s “Deterrence and Reassurance” opens at Bergen Kunsthall (NO). In the show’s titular work, the Norweigian artist contrasts comfy Scandinavian lifestyle with Norway’s arctic policy (read: securing oil and gas deposits) via 18 rugs woven from military textiles (2024, image). Through the rugs and accompanying maps, Johannessen “visualizes the presence of the military in the landscape and the social imaginary.”
“There is a death drive in all of this. It is a drive to lethality. It is a drive towards self-destruction but also the destruction of all others. That is what underlies these systems.”
“3D analysis shows patterns of radial fragmentation on the southwest side of the impact crater, as well as a shallow channel leading into the crater from the northeast. Such patterns indicate a likely projectile trajectory with northeast origins.”
Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko’s permanent installation Voices of Memory (2023, image) opens in the Hall of Remembrance at Warsaw Insurgents Cemetery. A memorial to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, in which 150,000 civilians and 18,000 insurgents died during a revolt against occupying German forces, it “expresses opposition to all armed conflicts.” In the piece, Wodiczko presents audio of survivors’ testimonials and syncs their traumatic recollections with projections of flickering flames.
Antony Loewenstein
The Palestine Laboratory
An exhibition for the post-truth era, Trevor Paglen’s “You’ve Just Been Fucked by PSYOPS” opens at Pace New York. In it, the American artist charts the “enduring effects of military and CIA influence operations on American culture” through several new works. These include an unknown orbital object photo series, and Because Physical Wounds Heal… (2022, image right), a mixed media—steel, bullets, resin—sculpture that mythologizes the iconography, sloganeering, and abject horror of U.S. psychological warfare.
“Semi-autonomous weapons, like loitering munitions that track and detonate themselves on targets, require a ‘human in the loop.’ They can recommend actions but require their operators to initiate them.”
“Today Taiwan produces around one third of the new computing power we rely on each year. It produces ninety percent of the most advanced processor chips.”
“Basha’s paintings are dominated by circles, which she creates with her feet, while her lines are created by a painting arm.”
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