Between Pixel and Pigment

Photo design and data processing programmes, as well as generative manufacturing technologies like 3D printers are among the most prevalent tools used by visual artists today. In fact, computer-aided technologies, digital codes and digital aesthetics were already playing a role in the visual arts by the early 2000s, if not earlier. How have the production conditions, artistic practices, the role of visual artists and their ability to reach audiences changed with the integration of these digital tools? This is the question that the Kunsthalle Bielefeld and the Museum Marta Herford wish to jointly address in their upcoming large-scale exhibition project.  

Featuring some 40 international artistic works presented simultaneously at both museums in four thematic threads, the exhibition strives to offer new insight into the (post-)digital transformation of the contemporary visual arts of the lastpixel
 20 years. The show presents artists who consciously use computers as tools in their creative process, who experiment with digital aesthetics and big data, or reinterpret traditional motifs and processes of historic graphic art production with technologies like AR, motion capturing and morphing, thereby blurring the boundaries of the classical art genres. The exhibition features pieces by such artists as Avery Singer, Vivian Greven, and the artist duo Ashley Hans Scheirl und Jakob Lena Knebl, whose opulent spatial installations consisting of analogue and digital montage techniques create seamless transitions between painting, sculpture, film and fashion. The exhibition will also be augmented by historic works by Kasimir Malewitsch, Vera Molnár and Andy Warhol, among others, to emphasise their pioneering role in the development of hybrid visual arts. The project is organised in cooperation with the Kunstakademie Münster and will be accompanied by a public symposium and exhibition catalogue.

Artistic directors: Christina Végh (head), Kathleen Rahn
Curators: Friederike Fast, Benedikt Fahrnschon
Artists: Tim Berresheim, Cyprien Gaillard, Charlotte Johannesson, Christopher Kulendran Thomas, Kasimir Malewitsch, Laura Owens, Amy Sillman, Andy Warhol, Corinne Wasmuht, Lu Yang and others

Exhibition: Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld and the Museum Marta Herford, Herford: 6 Jul. –27 Oct. 2024