ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie

Der diskrete Charme der Technologie. Medienkunst aus Spanien

27 Sep 2008 - 15 Feb 2009

Iván Marino
Pn=n!
2006-2007
Rechnergestützte Videoinstallation, basierend auf einem generativen System
MEIAC Collection and CAM/Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo Collection
© Iván Marino
The discreet Charm of Technology. Arts in Spain
(Der diskrete Charme der Technologie. Kunst in Spanien)

Technology’s discrete charm: To smooth new paths via media art and to open perspectives. The exhibition will show approximately 100 artistic positions from Spain distinguished by their aesthetic quality and cultural historical significance. Several of the works make direct references to prominent elements in Spanish cultural tradition, such as bull fighting and flamenco.

The exhibition’s modular structure in five thematic areas creates a connection between works from the thirteenth to the twenty-first centuries. This recourse and back-referencing of art to discoveries from earlier centuries characterizes artists’ fascination with technology. The exhibition makes this clear among other ways, through references to the »logical machine« of Ramon Llull from Catalan (thirteenth century) or the microphotography of the Spanish scientist Ramón y Cajal (nineteenth century). Precisely because the works are arranged thematically and not simply chronologically or based on techniques, they are part of a discourse arranged under a particular key term in each module of the exhibition.

The exhibition, curated by Claudia Giannetti, Antonio Franco, and Peter Weibel, was already shown in a slightly different configuration at the Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo, Badajoz (Spain) and will now come to the ZKM | Museum of Contemporary Art in Karlsruhe, where it will be open to the public beginning September 27.

 

Tags: Peter Weibel