Prague, June 11 – August 30, 2026, www.galerierudolfinum.cz
First of all big respect to Gallery Rudolfinum for offering free entrance to their truly wonderful space. I finally feel like I am getting something back for my taxes, and more than that, it is a gift to everyone, making high quality art accessible. It makes me question, why some of the neighbors like Kunsthalle Praha (just across the river) or DOX are charging rather high entrance fees. It also makes me curious about the economics of it all. And the philosophy behind it.
Now to the show. As the title says, the theme was data, datafication, surveillance, infrastructure and the impact on identity and freedom of individuals. A heavy topic. Indeed, most of the works were rather depressive. Even though the works often made use of advanced digital technologies, featuring many screens, cables and industrial materials, in many cases they did not venture beyond simply representing or replicating some present or past problems. So, in many cases, what was on display was a documentation, “old news”. Yes, governments are using technology to observe their subjects (Mark Cinkevich). Yes, mobile phones are used to track their users (Tamara Kametani). Yes, technological infrastructure is an extension of the (neo)collonial worldview (Jonas Staal). And? So what?
Is it too much to expect from an artist something more than a replication of what is out there? And how can you critically engage with the technological infrastructure using technological infrastructure? Given the sponsorship of the exhibition from EU research funding, how critical can one be of the funding body? The EU itself is a large supranational entity not really accountable to its subjects, enacting laws that cause some good, but also many harm, limiting online freedom and anonymity.
There were few forward looking artworks. And many backward looking ones. Discussing issues of censorship, colonialism, manipulation of public opinion etc. This is not to say they were bad art. Each of the artists and artworks had a depth and story. Taking care of the (known) past if of course one thing we can do to tackle the (unknown) future. But.. somehow I felt an imbalance, I wished for something… more? I don´t know.
One artists which stood out for me (again) was Nina Davies, she is really top of the game. Here she was present with one work comprised of a podcast and court room drawings discussing a hypothetical future. Another work was more in the traditional new media art vein, an array of cellphones with cameras on mounted onto auto-follow tripods, tracking visitors faces.
Other works that touched me were Arthur Magrot´s floor with movable tiles. Looked very unspectacular, but enforced an action-reaction from the visitors and served as a metaphor of politics in general.
Lastly I would like to mention aaajiao as the only artist in the show hailing from Asia, probably thanks to having one leg in Berlin. His contribution was also rather unspectacular, a resin sculpture of a human torso titled “Nobody”, but maybe this simplicity made it the more engaging, showing that a thoughtful process of reduction has taken place prior to placing the result into exhibition space.
Overall definitely worth to see. A lot to see. Everyone will find something and all the topics addressed are definitely worth thinking about. Just one must remain critical, even while engaging with critical artworks.
