“I Am Not A Robot” – On the Borders of the Singularity

The singularity is a point in (technological) development when a given technology grows beyond man’s mental capacity and becomes difficult for man to understand as it gets unimaginably complex. The technological singularity, on the other hand, is a possible future event when, due to the emergence of superintelligence, technological progress and social change accelerate, changing the environment in ways and at a rate that those living before the singularity are unable to comprehend or reliably predict. With the arrival of the singularity, the relationships and laws we know are no longer valid, and traditional logic and causality no longer work.

One of the defining global phenomena of our time is digitalisation, which has transformed human life in an evolutionary leap over the past decades, rewriting centuries of fixed habits, forms and behavioural patterns. The digital turn is an ongoing process, almost imperceptible in many of its details as its tools often seem natural, but is fundamentally about improving the quality of human life. Our lives are moving inexorably from offline to online, with digital presence growing rapidly. It is no exaggeration to say that this transformation is affecting fundamental aspects of human existence: our personal and business lives, education, communication, personal lifestyle, time management, etc. Changes in the technological sphere are having a significant impact on social processes, on our view of the world, on the conceptual schemas of the user. Digital technology in its current state is a new normativity that is part of work and life: not an enemy, not a friend, but a natural part of life.

The exhibition explores the powerful impacts of today’s technological developments on everyday life. The focus is not simply on newer and more advanced media and techniques, but on their consequences in society and in the life of the individual. The artworks on display that focus on these changes use a variety of approaches to examine and propose strategies for dealing with these new challenges. They offer artistic approaches to well-known phenomena such as fake news, deepfake, digital detox, life-hack, filter bubble, alternative facts, CGI, artificial intelligence, ro(bot)s, online immortality...

Curators: KÉSZMAN József, MAJ Ajna, NOLASCO-RÓZSÁS Lívia, ÜVEGES Krisztina

Download the exhibition booklet by CLICKING HERE. 

EXHIBITED ARTISTS

Memo AKTEN, BarabásiLab, Aram BARTHOLL, Katriona BEALES, BINAURA (NAGY Ágoston & SAMU Bence), BIRKÁS Mona, BIRÓ Dávid, Zach BLAS & Jemima WYMAN, James BRIDLE, Arvida BYSTRÖM, Juan COVELLI, Jake ELWES, FÜLÖP Szabolcs, Fabien GIRAUD & Raphaël SIBONI, Neil HARBISSON & Pol LOMBARTE, Vladan JOLER & Kate CRAWFORD, KÚTVÖLGYI-SZABÓ Áron, Lawrence LEK, Cristina DE MIDDEL, Joana MOLL, PÁLL Tamás, Wilfredo PRIETO, SoniLab (Marco Buongiorno Nardelli), ZÁMORI Eszter