What's in the news often surprises and affects us in negative ways: ongoing wars, massive migration flows, terror attacks and tensions between countries are definitely not indicators of great human interactions in modern society.
It is indeed not rare to get the feeling we do live in a borderline society, suspended between ultimate disaster and the emergence of something new, better and more positive.
An exhibition opening this week at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm explores the human condition in a fast-changing world.
Curated by Joa Ljungberg, "The New Human" is a film and video-based project and looks at the way we perceive ourselves, exploring at the same time further themes that may have darker tones, such as living, socialising and controlling each other.
The themes of the videos are quite different, going from political events and revolutions to nationalist and neo-fascist organisations and parties re-establishing themselves throughout Europe.
Insights into a global warzone of religious fanaticism and political extremism and violence are juxtaposed to moments of solidarity and compassion, while technological progress and our addiction for digital means of communication challenge notions of humanity and the way we relate to each other.
Tomáš Rafa documents Europe's handling of the refugee crisis; Hito Steyerl provides us with much needed visual instructions to become "invisible" in a world in which cameras are omnipresent, while Adel Abdessemed creates in his "God is Design" a new kind of "visual Esperanto" by fusing ornamental symbols from three monotheistic religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism – with North African patterns and with schematic drawings of human cell structures.
Science enters the event via Daria Martin's "Soft Materials" and Kerstin Hamilton's "Zero Point Energy", videos that introduce visitors to dystopian laboratory environments where human beings interact and perform with robots or a new humanity can be discerned.
Quite often these videos combine architectural, scientific and human landscapes with themes such as dance, choreography, and representation, allowing visitors to explore and investigate nano technological environments from an arty point of view.
The exhibition will also feature the entirely new work by Ursula Mayer (a video that takes the visitors into a post-human age…) and Tomáš Rafa.
"Today, thirty-year-olds can rightfully claim that the world looks completely different compared to when they were children. In times of such rapid change, pause and reflection become increasingly important. The artists participating in 'The New Human' strive to understand how new developments change our lives and in what direction we might be moving", states curator Joa Ljungberg.
Will technology suppress and replace us with complex, intelligent and self-generating hybrid forms of life such as cyborgs? And what kind of future awaits us?
"The New Human" doesn't provide a definitive answer but offers multiple scenarios. Several of the exhibited works will be exchanged in the course of the nine month exhibition period, so there is reason to visit this event several times.
"The New Human", Moderna Museet, Exercisplan 2, Stockholm, Sweden, 21st May 2016 – 5th March 2017.
Image credits for this post
Ed Atkins, Death Mask II: The Scent, 2010 (Video still)
© Ed Atkins, Image courtesy Cabinet, London and the artist
Tomáš Rafa, Refugees on their way to Western Europe, 2015. Idomeni Kid artist Greece 2016
© Tomáš Rafa
Frances Stark, My Best Thing, 2011 (film still)
© Frances Stark, Courtesy of the artist and Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York
Hito Steyerl, How Not to Be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational .MOV File, 2013 (Video still), Image CC 4.0 Hito Steyerl. Image courtesy of the Artist and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
Hito Steyerl, How Not to Be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational .MOV File, 2013 (Video still), Image CC 4.0 Hito Steyerl. Image courtesy of the Artist and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
Tomáš Rafa, Refugees on their way to Western Europe, 2015. Refugees at Keleti station in Hungary 2015. © Tomáš Rafa
Tomáš Rafa, Wall of Sports, 2012, Project "Wall of sports", painting the segregation wall in Veká Ida, Slovakia, 2013 © Tomáš Rafa
Kerstin Hamilton, Zero Point Energy, 2016
© Kerstin Hamilton
Daria Martin, Soft Materials, 2004 (Film still)
© The artist, Courtesy Maureen Paley, London
Kerstin Hamilton, Zero Point Energy, 2016 (film still)
© Kerstin Hamilton
Harun Farocki, Serious Games III: Immersion, 2009 (film still)
© Harun Farocki, Courtesy Àngels Barcelona & Harun Farocki GBR
Robert Boyd, "Xanadu", 2006 (film still)
© Robert Boyd, Courtesy Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf
Adel Abedssemed, God is Design, 2005 (Animation still)
© Adel Abdessemed / ADAGP, Paris / Bildupphovsrätt 2016
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