Digital Oxymoron
group show
Digitalni oksimoron
28 March – 17 April 2024
MKC – The Multimedia Cultural Centre / Multimedijalni kulturni centar, Split, Croatia
curator: Irena Borić
production: Sonda Foundation, MKC Split
Igor Štromajer exhibits his work:
Quantum Dawn or Transcending Political Anxiety
ㄴ (Non)Data Traps
2023
[20 mousetraps for non-mice]
Kvantna zora ili nadilaženje političke tjeskobe
ㄴ (ne)podatkovna klopka
2023
· artists: Format C (Dina and Vedran Gligo), Hrvoje Hiršl, Petra Mrša, Toni Soprano Meneglejte, Andrej Škufca, Igor Štromajer, Ivana Tkalčić
The exhibition Digital Oxymoron reflects the material side of digital technologies through artistic practices. Although the virtual seems immaterial, the space beyond the other side of our keyboard is based on physical conditions and has concrete (often negative) consequences for the environment and society. At the same time, it is a space of exchange and the circulation of capital which influences the narrative about the immateriality of the digital. Precisely because of this apparent dematerialization in relation to other technologies and industries, the trace of digital technologies is even more ‘insidious’. It is difficult to make end users aware that digital waste is not only hardware and computer monitors, but also has environmental, social, political and economic consequences. Precisely because the scope of the material and ecological consequences of digital technologies is not easily comprehensible, the exhibition explores the different poetics and politics of digital technologies from this side of the screen.
»In Quantum Dawn or Transcending Political Anxiety – (Non)Data Traps, Štromajer establishes a humorous dialogue by placing twenty mousetraps in the gallery space. 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
Izložba Digitalni oksimoron kroz umjetničke prakse promišlja materijalnu stranu digitalnih tehnologija. Iako se virtualno čini nematerijalnom, prostor s druge strane naše tipkovnice je zasnovan na fizičkim premisama i ima konkretne (često negativne) posljedice za okoliš i društvo. Istovremeno, to je prostor razmjene i kolanja kapitala, koji utječe na narativ o nematerijalnosti digitalnog. Upravo zbog te prividne dematerijalizacije u odnosu na druge tehnologije i industrije, trag digitalnih tehnologija je još “podmukliji”. Krajnje je korisnike teško osvijestiti da digitalni otpad nije samo hardver i računalni monitori, već ima i ekološke, društvene, političke i ekonomske posljedice. Upravo zato što opseg materijalnih i ekoloških posljedica digitalnih tehnologija nije samorazumljiv, izložba istražuje različite poetike i politike digitalnih tehnologija s ove strane ekrana.
Photo: Žaklina Antonijević
intima • Igor Štromajer 