Digital Oxymoron · Quantum Dawn

Digital Oxymoron
group show
Digitalni oksimoron
22 November – 8 December 2023

GT22, Maribor
curator: Irena Borić
producer: Sonda Foundation

Igor Štromajer presents his new work:
Quantum Dawn or Transcending Political Anxiety
ㄴ (Non)Data Traps

[20 mousetraps for non-mice]

Kvantna zarja ali Preseganje politične tesnobe
ㄴ (ne)podatkolovke

[mišnice: 20 mišelovk za nemiši]

· artists: Format C (Dina & Vedran Gligo), Hrvoje Hiršl, Petra Mrša, Toni Soprano Meneglejte, Andrej Škufca, Igor Štromajer, Ivana Tkalčić

»The exhibition focuses on the materiality of the digital and examines the sense of intangibility that resides somewhere in the speed of a web page load, the reliability of an image stored in the cloud, or the temporary sense of intimacy of a chat that takes place over corporate servers. The screen before us offers immersive worlds where colours, speeds, processing power and storage processes intertwine, while masking the fact that it owes its existence and functioning to metals and minerals. The virtual can easily appear immaterial, as it is a virtual space beyond the keyboard, even though it is a mechanism based on physical premises and has concrete consequences for the environment and society. The dependence of media technology on various geological materials, geophysical forces and vast global networks of energy and supply chains is not obvious. The backdrop of the production and operation of digital technologies supporting complex economic, social and political systems is successfully obscured by ever smaller and more portable digital equipment. But, as in the book Digital Rubbish. A natural history of electronics, professor and researcher Jennifer Gabrys points out, “from silicon to microchip, and from microchip to underground contamination, a complex series of mutations occur that allow electronic technologies to evolve.” As we know, microchips made of silicon are actually the hardware that allows information to be transmitted in the form of electrical signals, or on-off signals. The transmission of information into bits or binary units, where electrical pulses are involved, is based on this very composite of silicon, chemicals, metals, plastics and energy. It is therefore clear that a huge amount of (natural) materials and resources are needed to create the virtual. At the same time, the narrative of the virtuality of the digital is conditioned and influenced by the online exchange and circulation of capital. End-users often fail to understand that digital waste is not only hardware and computer monitors, but also has environmental, social, political and economic consequences. Precisely because the extent of these consequences is not obvious, the exhibition explores the different poetics and politics of digital technologies from our side of the screen.«

— Irena Borić, curator

»In Quantum Dawn or Transcending Political Anxiety – (Non)Data Traps (2023), Igor Štromajer establishes a humorous dialogue by placing twenty mousetraps in the atypical exhibition space of GT22. Mousetraps everywhere, but not for mice. Like the miniature servers in their cages, the mousetraps are miniature terrariums with bio- and electronic parts (chips, cables, computer parts), and the artist questions our position in relation to the predicaments of new technologies. The term ‘quantum dawn’ also refers to a series of cyber-security exercises that allow financial institutions and the sector as a whole to practice and improve coordination with key industry and government partners to keep the financial market functioning in the event of a systemic cyber-attack. On the other hand, the term ‘non-data’ does not mean that there is no data, but is a physical term and is used in quantum physics to refer to another state of data, as every data has its opposite, i.e. non-data.«

— Irena Borić, curator

»Razstava se osredotoča na materialnost digitalnega in prevprašuje občutek neotipljivosti, ki se nahaja nekje v hitrosti nalaganja spletne strani, zanesljivosti slike, shranjene v oblaku, ali v začasnem občutku intimnosti klepeta, ki poteka prek korporacijskih strežnikov. Zaslon, ki je pred nami, ponuja potopitvene svetove, kjer se prepletajo barve, hitrosti, procesorske moči in procesi shranjevanja, hkrati pa zakriva, da svoj obstoj in delovanje dolguje kovinam in mineralom. Virtualno se zlahka zdi nematerialno, saj gre za navidezni prostor onkraj tipkovnice, čeprav gre za mehanizem, ki temelji na fizičnih premisah in ima konkretne posledice za okolje in družbo. Odvisnost medijske tehnologije od različnih geoloških materialov, geofizikalnih sil ter ogromnih globalnih omrežij energetskih in dobavnih verig ni očitna. Ozadje proizvodnje in delovanja digitalnih tehnologij, ki podpira kompleksen ekonomski, socialni in politični sistem, uspešno zakriva vse manjša in prenosna digitalna oprema. Ampak, kot v knjigi Digital Rubbish. A natural history of electronics poudarja profesorica in raziskovalka Jennifer Gabrys, “se od silicija do mikročipa in od mikročipa do podzemne kontaminacije pojavi zapleten niz mutacij, ki omogočijo razvoj elektronskih tehnologij.” Kot vemo, so iz silicija narejeni mikročipi pravzaprav strojna oprema, ki omogoča prenos informacij v obliki električnih signalov oziroma signalov on-off (vklop/izklop). Prenos informacij v bite ali binarne enote, kjer gre za električne impulze, temelji ravno na tem omenjenem kompozitu silicija, kemikalij, kovin, plastike in energije. Jasno je torej, da je za vzpostavitev virtualnega potrebnih ogromno (naravnih) materialov in sredstev. Hkrati pa narativ o virtualnosti digitalnega pogojuje in na njega vpliva spletna izmenjava in kroženje kapitala. Končni uporabniki pogosto ne razumejo, da digitalni odpadki niso samo strojna oprema in računalniški monitorji, temveč imajo tudi okoljske, socialne, politične in ekonomske posledice. Prav zato, ker obseg teh posledic ni očiten, razstava raziskuje različne poetike in politike digitalnih tehnologij z naše strani zaslona.«

— Irena Borić, kuratorka

»V delu Kvantna zarja ali Preseganje politične tesnobe – (ne)podatkolovke (2023), Igor Štromajer z umestitvijo dvajsetih mišelovk v netipični razstavni prostor GT22 vzpostavlja humoren dialog. Vsepovsod mišelovke, le da niso namenjene mišim. Tako kot miniaturni strežniki, ki so v svojih kletkah, so tudi mišelovke miniaturni terariji z bio- in elektromaterialom (čipi, kabli, računalniški deli), umetnik pa prevprašuje našo pozicijo v odnosu do zadreg novih tehnologij. Izraz ‘kvantna zarja’ se nanaša tudi na niz vaj kibernetske varnosti, ki finančnim institucijam in celotnemu sektorju omogočajo, da vadijo in izboljšujejo usklajevanje s ključnimi industrijskimi in vladnimi partnerji za vzdrževanje delovanja finančnega trga v primeru sistemskega kibernetskega napada. Po drugi strani pa izraz ‘nepodatek’ ne pomeni, da podatka ni, ampak je fizikalni izraz in se v kvantni fiziki uporablja za drugo stanje podatka, saj ima vsak podatek svoje nasprotje, to je nepodatek.«

— Irena Borić, kuratorka

· exhibition poster by Toni Soprano Meneglejte:

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↑ TV Slovenija · Tele M & TVS1 Kultura, 23/11/2023

↑ YT channel Contemporary Art / Sodobna umetnost with Aljoša Abrahamsberg, 12/12/2023

↑ Mladina, 01/12/2023 📷 Gregor Salobir

↑ Večer, 04/12/2023 📷 Sašo Bizjak