Algorithmic Lifestyle @ Roehrs & Boetsch, Zurich

I haven’t posted here for a while, as I’ve been busy with projects and returning to teaching. I am proud to share that I Know Where Your Cat Lives is in a show opening today in Zurich. The statement is below.

GROUP EXHIBITION – ALGORITHMIC LIFESTYLE
31. 8. – 13. 10. 2018

We click, we like, we share. In today’s attention economy the new currency is “Likes”; Internet giants constantly compete for our attention through advertisement, register our every move, hope for a second of our time. At long last, the power lies in the hands of the people – grassroots democracy in the World Wide Web where everybody gets to voice their opinion. But looks are deceiving and while we share the latest picture of our cat on social media, we are always producing data to be mined by algorithms for our providers, always under surveillance and always targeted by even more likeable content. We live in a world full of pleasing distractions, surrounded by like-minded peers and without interference of reality – an “algorithmic lifestyle”.

In light of contemporary society being increasingly permeated by the Internet, Roehrs & Boetsch is pleased to announce the group exhibition ‘ALGORITHMIC LIFESTYLE’. The show displays works by ten artists und artist duos, of whom seven are presented at the gallery for the first time. In this exhibition different aspects of our digitalised lifestyles are explored by looking closely at the networks we belong to. The selected artists themselves are part of the digital world – often working with algorithms – while studying the Internet and revealing the mechanisms of the web economy. Above all, ‘Algorithmic Lifestyle’ aims to critically engage the viewer, to give a starting point for discussion and alternative options to our current role as ignorant users in this networked society.

Artists: Lauren Huret, Marc Lee, Olia Lialina, Jonas Lund, Shawn Maximo, !Mediengruppe Bitnik & Low Jack, Milena Milosavljevic, Owen Mundy, Sebastian Schmieg, UBERMORGEN

Curated by Nina Roehrs

Image: Shawn Maximo, 2017, Open Doors