Today, humans encounter much of the world through technology, which organizes our everyday existence and pervades our social lives. If we are online 24/7, where does the distinction between humans and machines lie?
This ambitious group exhibition of contemporary art, displays works by 25 artists who, in different ways, reflect on how new technology affects us, both as individuals and as communities.
A majority of the works in the exhibition are commissions, including site-specific works that take the surroundings of MUNCH and its collection as a point of departure. Before entering the museum, visitors encounter a greenhouse, run on heat from datamining, in which different tulips are cultivated. In the lobby, a virtual reality environment allows people to travel back in time and view the landscape of Oslo around the museum before it became inhabited by human beings. Visitors can also experience Edvard Munch’s works in a new, virtual context, using a dedicated mobile app.
The artists included in The Machine Is Us explore a wide range of issues associated with social media manipulation, changes in vision and visibility as the result of digital image technologies, and the role of spirituality in the age of artificial intelligence. They inquire into the erosion of image rights, the impact of automation on societal institutions and challenges to personal relationships. Visitors are also invited to imagine alternative, sometimes absurd, future scenarios, including teleporting as a method of migration, fast food for machines, and parallel worlds where unequal power structures have been eroded, the natural world remains untouched, and all living beings have eternal life.
