Most Dismal Swamp, Scraper, Video still, detail, 2023. Courtesy the artist.
Poetics of Encryption 17.02.24–26.05.24
The continuum between digital and physical domains is a key issue today. Contemporary art registers this fact—with much new work exploring the interface between computation and the ‘real’ world. But tech is often hidden, or encrypted. As a result, commentaries on the interface appear defined by speculation, if not suspicion. Poetics of Encryption explores this phenomenon and is dedicated to the hidden dimensions of our technological landscape. The group exhibition spans across the three floors of KW, elaborating imaginaries of the Black Site, Black Hole and Black Box, within an architectural scheme by Jürgen Mayer H. spanning analogue and digital media, this exhibition will unfold a poetic of encryption through historic and newly commissioned works by more than thirty international artists, amongst others: Nora Al-Badri, Emile Brout & Maxime Marion, Gillian Brett, Simone C. Niquille, Juliana Cerqueira Leite, Julian Charrière, Joshua Citarella, Juan Covelli, Kate Crawford & Vladan Joler, Sterling Crispin, Clusterduck, Simon Denny, Most Dismal Swamp, Ênore, Tilman Hornig, Andrea Khôra, Jonna Kina, Egor Kraft, Eva & Franco Mattes, Carsten Nicolai, Trevor Paglen, Jon Rafman, Sebastian Schmieg, Charles Stankievech, Troika, Ubermorgen Nico Vascellari, Zheng Mahler.
Guided Tour for groups in German & English 60 min, 70 € plus admission
Guided Tour for school groups in English and German 60 min, 55 € plus admission, free up to 18 years of age
Public Guided Tour Saturdays in English & Sundays in German 4pm 60 min, free
Zuschnitt: KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2023. Foto: Frank Sperling
KW, a hike Tour through the streets into the past of KW
In the early 1990s, KW Institute for Contemporary Art was founded in a former margarine factory. Their history is inseparably linked to that of their neighborhood, the surrounding streets and its buildings. To understand KW’s historical entanglements, we embark on a walking tour of boarded-up buildings, underground garages, distant domes over burial chambers, communist clubhouses, and the courtyard of a collector who lives in a former nationalized factory. A view of a distant skyscraper overshadowing Soviet-era relics on Alexanderplatz marks the end of our tour of KW’s neighboring streets.
Guided Tour for groups in English & German 90 min, 95 € no entry to the exhibitions
Guided Tour for school groups in English & German 90 Min, 85 € no entry to the exhibitions