Kumu’s anniversary year kicks off with an exhibition on art in the age of artificial intelligence
On Friday, 13 February, the exhibition Triumph of Galatea: Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence will open in the contemporary art gallery on the 5th floor of the Kumu Art Museum, examining changes and developments in human experience in culture and society in connection with the onslaught of new technologies. The exhibition is being curated by Anders Härm. The opening of the exhibition also marks the start of the special programme of Kumu’s 20th anniversary.
“The myth of Pygmalion and Galatea embodies one of humanity’s greatest archetypal desires: to transform a lifeless object made by humans into a living being. This myth has been used as a metaphor in many important texts on new media art since the 1990s, but only now, when the development of artificial intelligence and humanoid biomechanical robots has reached an advanced phase, is there reason to discuss it more literally. The theme concerns artists as much as it concerns humanity as a whole, and inevitably raises questions about the latest developments in humanity and explores how our self-perception and self-image are changing,” said the curator Anders Härm.
“Although most of the artists participating in the exhibition use artificial intelligence in one way or another as a tool for creating art or as a structural component, the exhibition as a whole deals with the current cultural situation, in which the utopian or dystopian potential of artificial intelligence has not yet been fully realised in society,” emphasised the curator.
On Friday, 13 February, the public opening of the exhibition will turn into a birthday party, Kumu 20. Off to the Future, where the theme and performers are inspired by the exhibition. The main performer at the party will be the Estonian-British band Night Tapes, consisting of Iiris Vesik, Max Doohan and Sam Richards. Their album Portals//polarities, released last year, was awarded the title of Album of the Year in the ERR charts and won the Estonian Music Award for Alternative/Indie Album of the Year. Also performing at the party will be the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra’s chamber ensemble, with their experimental programme (A)ud(I)ospaa, as well as Kiwanoid, Viktoria Martjanova, Bedless Bones and MHKL.
The opening programme of the exhibition and the celebration of Kumu’s 20th anniversary will take place on the weekend of 14-15 February. On Saturday, 14 February, the focus will be on the new exhibition. At 12 noon (in English) and 2 pm (in Estonian), the curator and artists will give tours of the exhibition. At 1:30 pm, the Danish-Brazilian artist Andreas Albrectsen will begin his performance Failed Experiment No. 1 (democary) in the Kumu atrium. Over the course of approximately two and a half hours, the artist will use sand to create the word democary on the floor of the atrium, using distorted letters generated by various robot trap programmes on the internet used to distinguish humans from robots. The work is part of the exhibition and will remain in the atrium until the end of the exhibition. The opening programme will conclude with a discussion between the technology philosopher Oliver Laas and the artists Marge Monko, Sten Saarits and Jan Zuiderveld, who are participating in the exhibition, on the topics of artificial (co-)authorship, creative possibilities, and social and moral issues.
The programme on Sunday, 15 February will focus on the history of the Kumu building. The most noteworthy events of the programme are the thematic tours of Kumu: at 12 noon, the tour will be led by Marika Valk, the former director of the Art Museum of Estonia, and Sirje Helme, the current director; at 2 p.m., a tour focusing on the architecture of Kumu will be led by the architectural historian Professor Mart Kalm. At 4 p.m., there will be a discussion, A New Art Museum: Church or Shopping Mall?, featuring all three tour guides, as well as Aavo Kokk, the director of the Siuru cultural centre being built in Tartu, and the artist Karl Joonas Alamaa. The discussion will be moderated by the Kumu director, Kadi Polli. There will also be tours and a crown-making workshop for families visiting Kumu’s first children’s exhibition, Tu and Whozzy.
The exhibition Triumph of Galatea: Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence will remain open in the contemporary art gallery on the 5th floor of Kumu until 9 August.
Curator: Anders Härm; graphic design: Ott Metusala; coordinators: Johanna Jolen Kuzmenko and Tiiu Saadoja
Participating artists: Andreas Albrectsen, Maria Arnal, Tilman Hornig, Olga Jürgenson, Marge Monko, Bernard Picart, Darja Popolitova, Jon Rafman, Sten Saarits, Jens Settergren, Jan Zuiderveld and Timo Toots
The Kumu Art Museum first opened its doors to visitors on 18 February 2006, after nearly four years of construction and more than ten years of waiting, following the announcement of the winning entry in the 1993 architecture competition. The architect of the Kumu building is Pekka Vapaavuori, and the interior design is by Pille Lausmäe-Lõoke, Ville Lausmäe and Gullsten-Inkinen Interior Architects. Over the past twenty years, Kumu has hosted 249 temporary exhibitions and welcomed over 2.8 million visitors. Kumu’s 20th anniversary is marked by a jubilee logo designed by Mia Greta Sepp and Berit Raun, second-year graphic design students at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Visitors will receive year-long programmes of special events.
See also:
Exhibition website