Positions Berlin Art Fair
During the upcoming Berlin Art Week, from September 11th to 15th, the focus will be on POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair. Our gallery will be exhibiting at booth A18 opening from 12th September for VIP day.
The program explores the dynamic interplay between artistic expression and cutting-edge technological innovation. We are excited to showcase works by César Escudero Andaluz & Martin Nadal, Kevin Abosch, Grayson Earle, Mario Klingemann, and Marcel Schwittlick.
Our program for Positions Berlin Art Fair 2024 explores the dynamic interplay between artistic expression and innovative technological novelty. Art and technology have shared a symbiotic relationship throughout history. Many scientific advancements have provided artists with new expressive tools and techniques to explore, pushing the boundaries of traditional approach. This integration dates to the Renaissance, a period marked by significant scientific discoveries and intellectual exploration. An iconic example from this era is the camera obscura, a precursor to the modern camera that transformed artistic perspectives, offering artists new ways to view and depict the world. Over time, technologies such as printmaking and photography have made art more accessible and opened new possibilities for creative experimentation in composition and form. By the 20th century, advancements in digital technology and computing gave rise to kinetic, video, and generative art, enabling artists to create complex, dynamic works that mirror the growing impact of technology on both art and society.
As technology advances at an unprecedented pace, it intertwines more deeply with our daily lives and the world of contemporary art. Artists today not merely use technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, and blockchain as creative tools; but also critically examine these innovations and their societal impacts. By exploring the profound ways technology alters our perceptions and reshapes the societiy, artists raise pivotal questions about sustainability, ethics, and the future. Their work invites us to reflect on the complex relationship between technological progress and its broader implications for humanity.
The program highlights work by César Escudero Andaluz & Martin Nadal, Kevin Abosch, Grayson Earle, Mario Klingemann and Marcel Schwittlick. Their diverse presentations range from unconventional plotter drawings and synthetic video works to fine art prints, AI-driven pieces, and robotic installations.
Grayson Earle, a contemporary conceptual artist from the United States, his work deals with the role that digital technologies and networks play in protest and political agency. His latest project, "The Male Gaze in the Machine" 2024, is a provocative multimedia work explores the impact of heteronormative male desire on computational processes, specifically through machine learning models influenced by the male gaze. Earle developed software to analyze the top 300 pornographic videos recommended by Pornhub, deconstructing these into frames to train a neural network. This process, displayed throughout the series, uncovers how AI "learns" to recognize and recreate the biased content it's fed, thus reflecting how such technologies can reinforce patriarchal norms. This piece is presented as both unique video work and a series of Instax prints. The video component showcases the evolution of the AI's training process, revealing how the machine's 'vision' develops over time. The Instax prints, chosen for their intimate scale and texture, highlight the personal and private dimensions of the images.
GRAYSON EARLE, The Male Gaze in the Machine #1, #2 and #3, 2024, Instax prints, Size: 7 x 8.5 cm, Unique (each)
Marcel Schwittlick is a Berlin-based artist who uniquely blends digital and physical art using drawing machines and algorithmic systems. For the fair, Marcel presents an exclusive series titled "Unicode Landscape" 2024, which explores the intersection of digital and analog communication, using Unicode—a global character encoding standard that enables diverse writing systems to function on the internet—as its thematic foundation. In his work, Schwittlick uses technologies such as Braille printers and electronic ink displays, which are generally used for utilitarian purposes, in innovative ways to create art. He transforms Unicode-standardized emojis, symbols commonly used in digital communication, into tactile braille prints and animated displays on electronic ink screens. Through these works, he makes visible the often-invisible infrastructure of digital communication, illustrating how discrete digital data can be transformed into physical forms.
Marcel Schwittlick, Snow Capped Mountain (u+1f3d4), 2024 (From Unicode Landscape series), Embossed paper + NFT, Size: 30 x 30 cm, Unique
Kevin Abosch, an Irish multidisciplinary artist known for his work in photography, sculpture, installation, AI, blockchain, and film. Abosch explores themes related to identity, value, and human currency. He has been incorporating blockchain technology into his artistic practice since 2013, influenced by an early fascination with cryptography. This interest was sparked by his father, who served as an intelligence officer in MI5 during World War II. For the fair, he showcases two prints, “Contemporaneous Cryptographic Redirection” 2024 and “A Poem for Papa” 2024, available in three different sizes, which demonstrate Abosch's engagement with encryption technologies.
Kevin Abosch, A Poem for Papa, 2024, Fine Art Print, Ed. of 3 + 1 AP (each unique in size), Sizes: Small: 90 x 60 cm, Medium: 106 x 70 cm, Large: 137 x 90 cm
Mario Klingemann, a Munich-based artist recognized as a pioneer in AI art, neural networks, and machine learning, will present a work at the fair titled "Involution" 2024. The work is inspired by André Kertész to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the world-famous Hungarian photographer's birth. "Involution" is a series of unique works drawing inspiration from Kertész's "Distortions". Kertész was among the Surrealist photographers and artists in the 1920s and 1930s who challenged Realism. His distortions made viewers reflect, question, and wonder about their perceptions, especially regarding the representation and meaning of the human body. Mario Klingemann builds on this concept by using synthetically generated and algorithmically processed images in his creations, aiming to capture the essence of how we perceive reality.
Mario Klingemann, Involution #1, #2 and #4, 2024, Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle Photo Silk Baryta X, Unique, Two size options are available upon client request
César Escudero Andaluz and Martin Nadal are conceptual artist duo renowned for their collaborative projects that explore new technologies as tools for creation and subjects of critique. They question the sustainability and ethical dimensions of blockchain technologies, emphasizing their social, political, and environmental impacts. The program offers two projects: "Bittercoin" 2016, and "Bitcoin of Things" 2017.
In "Bittercoin" 2016, the artists repurpose an old calculator to validate pending Bitcoin transactions on the blockchain. The operations are displayed on the calculator screen and printed, with the paper accumulating around the machine. This visualizes the extensive calculations and natural resources expended, highlighting the competitive and resource-intensive nature of cryptocurrency mining. The first 100 bills printed in 2018 by the calculator to validate the pending transactions of Bitcoins in the Blockchain, are displayed at the fair as an edition, packed in a small bottle reminiscent of a time capsule. This presentation symbolizing the preservation of digital artifacts and emphasizing the historical and cultural value of the early stages of this digital currency. By encapsulating these initial printouts, the artists underscore the monumental effort involved in cryptocurrency mining and critique the unsustainable practices embedded within these technologies, inviting viewers to reflect on the long-term impacts of such innovations on society and the environment.
The latter work, "Bitcoin of Things" 2017 reimagines the traditional Bitcoin mining process by transforming everyday objects such as stamps and coffee grinders into miners capable of connecting to the blockchain and calculating hashes. This approach criticizes cryptocurrency mining, which typically depends on immense computational power and extensive resource consumption. By incorporating everyday items into the mining process, the artwork democratizes and personalizes Bitcoin mining, making it accessible and intriguing for a broader audience. Moreover, these small-scale, customized mining rigs significantly reduce energy consumption, addressing the sustainability issues prevalent in conventional mining practices. Through this creative and environmentally conscious alternative, "Bitcoin of Things" critiques the efficiency and fairness of existing technological practices in digital economies, urging a reevaluation of how we engage with technology and its impact on the world.
César Escudero Andaluz and Martin Nadal, Bittercoin, 2016, Repurposed calculator machine used as bitcoin miner, Size: 40 x 30 x 10 cm, Edition of 10
César Escudero Andaluz and Martin Nadal, Bitcoin Of Things, 2017, Repurposed stamp with Wi-Fi microcontroller with sensors, Size: 10 x 10 x 15 cm, Unique