The group exhibition “Still Processing” at the Nxt Museum in Amsterdam explores the dynamic relationships between art and technology and examines how meaning is derived from data. It focuses both on the question of how technologies shape and manipulate images, and on a critical reflection on how people perceive, process and interpret these images.
The lights dance throughout the space, at times rhythmically, at times with veritable ferocity. Boris Acket’s audiovisual installation “Duration” is a large-scale work that explores the interplay between technology and human experience. A scaffold-like grid, fitted with light panels, is installed in the exhibition space. Accompanied by a techno-inspired soundscape, light and sound are distributed throughout the space, creating an immersive structure that is fragmented yet sensuous. “Duration” is part of the exhibition “Still Processing” at the Nxt Museum, an experimental art space in Amsterdam that explores the intersections of art, technology, science, sound and performance.
At a time when we are constantly exposed to a glut of images and information, the exhibition curated by Bogomir Doringer seeks to question our technology-mediated perception of reality. Central to this is our emotional relationship with new technologies and how we deal with the implications of artificial intelligence. It addresses both the manipulation of images through technological processes and the role of humans in processing these transformations. The works on display in the exhibition explore questions of the perception and construction of visual spaces, and how digital images and sounds are generated, transformed, deconstructed and consumed.
Rosa Menkman also explores deconstruction and the toxic potential of automated algorithms. In her work, the Dutch art theorist, curator and artist examines the manipulation of images. She is represented in the exhibition with several works that explore the transition from analogue to digital technology, the digital circulation of images and the possibilities of synthetic image generation. Her work “DE/CALIBRATION ARMY” challenges the standardised ideals of beauty that underpin certain image-processing algorithms, dismantling these mechanisms and decalibrating the software from within.
In Geoffrey Lillemon’s installation “Simulation in Blue”, you witness a futuristic performance in which a band of mutants plays abstract jazz. The music and animation have an eerie quality; the musicians look as though they’ve stepped out of a 1980s sci-fi film, whilst the sound gradually descends into improvised chaos. Lillemon combines contemporary image-processing tools with artificial intelligence, thereby challenging our understanding of media art, music and performance.
The exhibition “Still Processing” skilfully combines a rich selection of works from the field of contemporary media art that explore the interrelationships between human cognition and advanced technology. The works on display range from large-scale installations that create a sensory overload in themselves to critical investigations into the questionable mechanisms of algorithms.
Nxt Museum, Asterweg 22, 1031 HP Amsterdam.