Poetics of Encryption
Though we rely on digital tools for many things, we rarely understand how they work. Moreover, due to the proprietary nature of much corporate tech, even the most curious among us cannot gain deeper insight. What are symptoms of this personal and political drama register in the cultural field? What narrative frames capture the aesthetics and politics of exclusion, occlusion, secrecy, and speculation concerning technology’s inside? This extensive group exhibition at KW builds upon the recent book by Nadim Samman titled Poetics of Encryption: Art and the Technocene. It surveys an imaginative landscape marked by Black Sites, Black Boxes, and Black Holes—terms that indicate how technical systems capture users, how they work in stealth, and how they distort cultural space-time. Spanning analogue and digital media, Poetics of Encryption features works by more than 40 international artists.
The exhibition architecture has been made in collaboration with architect Jürgen Mayer H. / J. MAYER H. and partners, architects. A dedicated website-as-catalogue also features three ‘web-first’ artistic commissions, rich media, and a bespoke AI chatbot. See poeticsofencryption.kw-berlin.de
The KW Digital Program in 2023–2024 is supported by Volkswagen Group.
Curator: Nadim Samman
Assistant Curator: Linda Franken
Curatorial Assistant: Lara Scherrieble
KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststr. 69
10117 Berlin,
Mitte
Tel: +49 (0)30 243 45 90
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