W139 Amsterdam, NL
2016
An installation built, and group exhibition initiated, curated, and programmed by Margarita Osipian and Helena Sanders
The Installation :
An interactive gym of mirrored walls, vinyl flooring, customs benches and functional workout equipment constructed from electronic waste
Atari console bench press
Hard drive free weights
Ethernet cable climbing ropes
Two iMacs medicine balls (with custom-made zip-in covers by Maartje van de Mortel)
The Exhibition :
When thousands of protesters took to the streets of Cairo to demand an end to the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian government cut the nation off from all forms of incoming and outgoing online communications. The breakdown, or disconnection, of wireless networks caused a rise in analogue communications and illuminated the physical structure of power and control that exists in what we often perceive to be ‘immaterial’ and decentralized communications channels.
During Gym of Obsolete Technology, artists visualize and give form to the tensions between the analogue and the digital that come into being during moments of transference, circumvention, and interference.
With the original intention in mind, the participating artists of Gym of Obsolete Technology branch out to deal with topics such as economies of energy, our fantasies of physical interaction with the digital, the clumsiness of technology, use and obsolescence in our social experience of technology, digital materiality, how the sacred is transformed through digital simulation, and the visualization of invisible signals. The exhibition illuminates the increasingly invisible and ubiquitous digital form, while simultaneously pointing to the weight and waste generated by planned obsolescence and a tireless quest for ‘innovation’ and novelty in digital objects.
Graphic Design and Exhibition Identity : Nicole Martens
Plus images of Max Dovey’s Dial Up Choir performing the internet dial-up sound at the exhibition opening
For full details of the events, broadcasts, talks and workshops, you can find the exhibition archive here : W139 ARCHIVE LINK
Date