RE:HUMANISM
Launched on the 5th May, and running until the end of May 2021 the exhibition Re:humanism is the work of the winners and finalists of a prize with the same name curated by Daniela Cotimbo at The MAXXI in Rome.
The works explore the relationship between the human and the sprawl of influence of artificial intelligence. Man against machine, or man with machine and vary hugely in media resulting in an eclectic display of works.
Egor Kraft, who had exhibited in Malta in 2019 in the exhibition Non-Aligned Networks at Valletta Contemporary proposed an Chinese Ink, an AI system which trained on images of ink blots found in Chinese handwritten manuscripts, generates an almost infinite amount of artificial blots creating a meditative exploration of the enormous possibilities of pushing the boundaries of reality through the calculations of a machine. The work somehow shows that technology does not necessarily signify the end of traditions but possibly of their exploration and amplification. It is a machine creating beautiful and aesthetically pleasing nuances which although are not a form of communication intrinsically, are an integral part of the uniqueness of calligraphy.
2nd Prize winner Irene Fenara’s work Three Thousand tigers is an intriguing tapestry created in traditional knotting like a prized Persian carpet of an image generated by a machine researching the faces of the last three thousand tigers left on the planet. It is powerful and covetable and to me it seems that the machine is inadvertently or not camouflaging the image of one of nature’s most powerful and beautiful faces. It also offers criticism of the fact these magnificent creatures were largely despicably murdered to provide a trophy carpet.
Other prize winners and finalists were Entangled Others, the shared studio practice of artists Feileacan McCormick and Sofia Crespo who’s work beneath the Neural waves 2.0 won first prize, Youguang Zhang with (Non-) human : The Moving Bedsheet, Elisabeth Bowie Christoforetti and Romy El Sayah with Body as building, Carola Bonfili with The Flute-Singing, Johanna Bruckner with Molecular Sex, Numero Cromatico, a Roman artists’ collective with Epitaphs For The Human Artist, Mariagrazia Pontorno with Super Hu.Fo*Voynich, Umanesimo Artificiale with ABCD1, and RomaEuropa Digitalive Prize winner Francesco Luzzana with Object Oriented Choreography (OOC). Be sure to visit when in Rome!
Re: Humanism, Re:define the boundaries. 5 – 30 May 2021. CORNER MAXXI of MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome.
ENTANGLED OTHERS | IRENE FENARA | YUGUANG ZHANG
UMANESIMO ARTIFICIALE | JOHANNA BRUCKNER
ELIZABETH CHRISTOFORETTI & ROMY EL SAYAH | EGOR KRAFT
MARIAGRAZIA PONTORNO | NUMERO CROMATICO | CAROLA BONFILI
