Mind over Matter An exhibition of current international positions in media art at the Technische Sammlungen Dresden, including the special exhibition Molecular Minds // Monstrous Matters. 1 2 Mitch Altman, Nora Al-Bad- ri, Anisha Baid, Aram Bartholl, Caroline Beach, Johanna Bruck- ner, William S. Burrough’s, Hsi- en-Yu CHENG, Oana Clitan, The Collective, Leon Eckard, Lu- cie Freynhagen, Deborah Gep- pert, Anton Ginzburg, Yun-Ting Hung, Tara Kelton, Peter Kutin, Ulf Langheinrich, Kristina Lani- kova, Jan Nikola Nelles, Rashee- dah Phillips, Olbram Pavlicek, Clemens Reinecke, Stefan Rö- mer, Miriam Simuns, Ernst Mar- kus Stein, Natasha Tontey, Au- guste Vickunaite, Sultana Zana & Vivek Chockalingam / Walkin Studios, Franziska Wanda, Alwin Weber, Carolin Weinert Goldberg-Hall 12 13 10 11 9 14 15 8 16 7 17 6 18 5 19 4 3 20 Tower 24 21 2 22 23 Emanuel Goldmanns Lathe 1 Entrance William S. Burrough‘s Sultana Zana, Vivek 1 The CuT ups S.10 41 Chockalingam / Walkin Studios Oana Clitan ThaT‘s The quesTion S.42 FuTure news, oFFiCial 2 sCreens S.12 Stefan Römer 15 dreaM MaChines S.44 Tara Kelton 3 Yes MY wish S.14 Mitch Altman 16 The brain MaChine S.48 Carolin Weinert 4 i goT a TheorY S.18 Aram Bartholl 17 on S.50 Hsien-Yu CHENG 5 unTiTled S.20 Anton Ginzburg 18 end oF perspeCTive S.56 Lucie Freynhagen 6 €uroper 1. aCT – Yun-Ting Hung eMpTYing & unCerTainTY 19 unTiTled S.58 S.22 Franziska Wanda Alwin Weber 02 letters To Joe S.60 7 ConTeMporarY loCkdown exCerpTs S. 26 Ernst Markus Stein, 21 Auguste Vickunaite, Kristina Láníková Caroline Beach reFleCTions, evidenCes 8 does sailor dreaM oF and reporTs on eFFeCTs i S.64 S.28 eleCTriC dolphins? Anisha Baid Deborah Geppert, Clemens MY rooM S.30 22 Reinecke 9 one anoTher / anoTher Neel Koradia, Shafali Jain, no one S.66 10 Sidharthan / The Collective unTiTled S.32 Olbram Pavlicek korpsepunx S.68 23 Peter Kutin ROTOЯ S.34 Nora Al-Badri, Jan Nikola 11 Nelles, Rasheedah Phillips, 24 Ulf Langheinrich Johanna Bruckner, Natasha xxx S.36 Tontey, Miriam Simuns 12 MoleCular Minds // MonsTrous MaTTers Leon Eckard S.72 13 MYse en abYMe S.40 MInd over MATTER The title of the project for 2021 is achievements with regard to elec- MIND OVER MATTER, an English tronic data processing and extensi- phrase that can be compared to ve mass communication, have, ho- the German folk wisdom DER WILLE wever, already been at the center of VERSETZT BERGE. philosophical speculation in our lati- tudes for centuries, starting with the The phrase is also used in parapsy- concept of consciousness and God chology to describe paranormal by Rene Descartes and Gottfried phenomena such as psychokinesis. Wilhelm Leibnitz in the 17th century. n The exhibition and lecture program Various basic philosophical ques- o will focus on questions of conscious- tions are raised about the structure I ness research, machine learning, of being, matter and time, which are and the structure of the self and explored by means of technological self-awareness. Since time imme- and artistic experimental arrange- morial, these questions have been ments. projected into future settings within the framework of science fiction li- The question of the nature of our Introduct terature, current film series such as consciousness, and how it is possible the Matrix or Westworld, which use for it to exist in and experience our advanced technology to attempt to universe, is arguably the most fasci- resolve the question of how mind nating puzzle we face. The research and consciousness phenomena can field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) was evolve and manifest within complex launched in no small part to find an assemblages of matter assembled answer to this. Since its beginnings, from minute, atomic components. media art has referred to explora- These current philosophical ques- tions of this relationship between tions, which arise with new vehe- humans, technology and conscious- mence on the basis of our technical ness, with the aid of technological 6 and artistic models and technical research and cybernetics has been tools. In the attempt to realize on a central starting point for various computers the cognitive processes educational and experimental for- of humans, we develop a testable mats at this museum for years. understanding and concepts of how elementary information processing Beyond the curated program, this processes lead to complex experien- larger, concentrated exhibition is ce, it is no less than the attempt of a to include award winners from the Theory of Everything, by means of mb21 youth media festival, contri- mirroring and transferring it into a butions from the Chaos Computer machine-abstract information pro- Club, exhibition contributions from MInd over Matter cessing system, but modeled after the CYNETART festival as well as the Sammlungen Dresden Technische human information processing. SHAPE platform and other local and international actors. For this purpo- What distinguishes today‘s AI sys- se, a digital residency program has tems from the human mind? Today‘s been initiated with the Goethe Ins- applications of AI focus primarily titute Bangalore and Walkin Studios on classifying data and controlling Bangalore, and a cooperation with technical systems. However, our TAMTAM Art and the Ministry of Cul- minds are more than classifiers: they ture Taiwan has been agreed upon. actively create a dynamic model of the environment, a dream anchored The awarding of the special prize in sensory data that they experience for media art, donated by the state and reflect upon. Artistic works that capital Dresden within the MB21 fes- exercise and reflect this modeling in tival, is also planned in this context. both technical and humanistic terms will be presented and discussed, and local, national, and international contributions are invited. The Technical Collections are par- ticularly well suited as an exhibiti- on venue for such a question, since physical and technical research on this complex of topics is also pur- sued here in other formats, and a very mixed audience of young and experienced visitors with an interest in technology prevails. Mapping the artistic dimension of this issue can succeed particularly well here, as the combination of media technology, information processing, perception 7 Technische Sammlungen Dresden - Emanuel Goldberg Hall 1 William S. Burrough‘s Avant-garde film ‚The Cut Ups‘ manded their money back. (1966) by Jonathan Crow. In 1920, Dada extraordinaire The 1966 short film The Cut-Ups Tristian Tzara described in his is probably Burroughs‘ best- manifesto how to write a poem known foray into experimental in the Dada style. It consisted of film, which he made with film- cutting up the words of a text, maker and renowned smut/ throwing them into a bag, and horror distributor Antony Balch. then pulling them out at ran- The film features random, repe- dom. „And there you are,“ he s titive shots of Burroughs in New wrote, „an infinitely original p u York, London, and Tangier, edi- writer of charming sensibility, ted together at precise lengths though unappreciated by the u but with little regard for the con- vulgar herd.“ Who would have c tent of the image. The audio is a thought that Tzara‘s avant-gar- h cut-together conversation with de methods would one day beco- t e thet words „Yes“ and „Hello“ lo- me a successful line of refrigera- oped over and over. tor magnets? The film is a trippy, hypnotic ex- perience. The mind struggles to make sense of the chaos. It feels like watching a dream that has somehow been short-circuited. When the film was first shown, viewers reportedly freaked out. Some declared that the film made them sick, while others de- 10 USA William S. Burrough‘s William S. Burroughs had just pu- blished his infamous non-linear mas- terpiece Naked Lunch in 1959 when he encountered the Tzara-influenced „cut-up“ methods of British artist Brion Gysin. Soon the author began to use cut-up techniques explicitly in his own work, particularly in his The Nova Trilogy. Unlike Tzara, who believed cut-ups revealed the utter absurdity of the world, Burroughs argued that lan- guage was a means of control that locked us into traditional ways of thinking. The cut-up was a way to subvert that control through new, unexpected juxtapositions. Excited by the possibilities of the cut-up, he experimented with it in a number of different media. 11 2 Oana Clitan Future news, official screens uses porations, post-truth and the the news rhetoric of the past and current attitude towards official present to speculate about how news, the decaying belief in pho- information will be presented in tographic realism. the future - and by whom. It ex- plores a future scenario in which Oana Clitan was born in Romania, electrical devices are damaged currently lives in Rotterdam (NL) and after a specific event. This re- works as an interdisciplinary ar- sults in the temporary inability tist and designer exploring themes l screens to produce new visual content. such as language and contemporary a communication under the influence I The only visual expressions are c some salvaged materials used of technology and media. Her works FI by the government to inform are installations, gifs, collages, dra- F about new developments of the wings and other various media and crisis. mostly use contemporary found images. Clitan is currently working The installation takes the form on research about the transition of a news channel on the street, from communicating with text to with the news being an exagge- communicating with images in online rated form of today‘s tendencies conversations and the use of anima- to base everything on opinions ted GIFs as rhetorical devices.