BBWCXR: Opening & Panel

Hybrid Environments - Technology and the Sublime with Marlies Wirth, Andric Spaeth, Andrea Khôra, Letta Shtohryn

2024/25 HYBRID Biennale
Photo: Tony Trichanh

The symposium Black Box White Cube XR opens with the panel ‘Hybrid Environments – Technology and the Sublime’ and addresses how world-building processes and the creation of hybrid environments can change our understanding of lived experiences. What happens when analogue and digital spaces converge with physical bodies in hybrid realities – from virtual environments to performances and sculptures? Through the use of a range of tools and technologies such as motion tracking, 3D scanning, AI-generated environments and curatorial strategies, the panellists will critically discuss established and propagated perceptions of space, experience and sublimity in today’s digitally mediated world. The panel will begin with 20-minute lectures by the participants, followed by a roundtable talk moderated by Bika Rebek.

Marlies Wirth ‘Technology, Ecology and the Curatorial Lens’ deals with curatorial practices that question the impact of digital technologies on society and the environment and promote dialogue on alternative future scenarios; Andric Spaeth (“Police vs. Society – A critical reflection on policing and its impact on the life of the policed”) will critically examine social power structures through virtual spaces; Andrea Khôra’s lecture “Expanded Technologies of the Mind” examines the interplay between psychedelics, consciousness and technology, while Letta Shtohryn’s playthrough ’Чули? Чули (Chuly? Chuly)’ questions the boundaries of online personalities and disinformation through an immersive performance that combines video game and choreographed motion capture.

Duration: ca. 2 h
Language: English with german simultaneous translation

Overview of the symposium program

Program schedule:

18:00
Welcome and introduction to the programme of the symposium by the curators Maria Chatzichristodoulou and Bika Rebek

18:40
Lectures by Marlies Wirth, Andric Spaeth, Andrea Khôra, Letta Shtohryn

20:00
Roundtable with Marlies Wirth, Andric Spaeth, Andrea Khôra, Letta Shtohryn, moderated by Bika Rebek  

Marlies Wirth is a curator and art historian in Vienna and has been working at the MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art since 2006. As Curator for Digital Culture, she is involved in the conception of the Vienna Biennale and heads the MAK Design Collection. She curates exhibitions and discourse programmes in the fields of art, architecture, design and technology, including the group exhibition Artificial Tears (Vienna Biennale 2017), 24/7: the human condition (Vienna Biennale 2015) and the monographic exhibition Hollein (2014). With a focus on conceptual art, site-specific, research- and time-based art and a particular interest in the cultural-anthropological contexts of artistic production, she also develops independent exhibition projects with international artists and writes texts and essays for various publications. She is part of the curatorial team for the international travelling exhibition Hello, Robot. Design between Human and Machine (2017, a cooperation between Vitra Design Museum, MAK and Design museum Gent) and co-director of the 12th Global Art Forum in Dubai entitled I am not a Robot (2018).

Andric Spaeth is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on New Media Research and Graphic Design. Their work explores the fusion of digital innovation and real-world scenarios, pushing the boundaries of aesthetics and technology to challenge social and political conventions. Andric is fascinated by the internet and digital media, using it to critique systems like the police and consumer society. By working with interactive virtual rooms, their practice seeks to connect the physical and digital, offering new perspectives on our existence. Andric is based in Berlin, Germany.

andricspaeth.com

Andrea Khôra is an artist and researcher based in London. Her work centers around the malleability of reality on both personal and societal levels. Andrea’s practice-led Ph.D. project at Goldsmiths, University of London, titled Under the Influence: Expanded Technologies of the Mind, investigates the intersection of expanded consciousness and hegemonic institutions through artistic research and writing. Through her research, Andrea examines how consciousness can be transformed and manipulated with psychedelics and other mind-altering methods, and how this intersects with established power structures. Through her art, she seeks to explore the implications of these interactions and provide insight into the complex relationship between altered states and institutions — focusing on psychedelics intersections with capitalism, western medical systems, and the military-industrial complex. She has been previously based in Seattle, WA, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland, and Florence, Italy.

andreakhora.com

Letta Shtohryn is an artist working with XR, CGI, machinima, generative AI and video games. She has a background in Philosophy and Sociology (University of Vienna) and Digital Art (MFA, University of Malta). Letta is currently a PhD student in Digital art at the University of Malta, focusing on XR, MoCap Performance, liveness and video games. In her artistic practice, Letta explores the complex relationship between the physical and digital realms, using extended reality (XR) as her primary medium. Through a posthumanist lens, she investigates embodiment, considering the presence of non-human life forms, machines, avatars, aliens, monsters, and ghosts. Drawing inspiration from intuitive epistemologies, archaeology, history, and weirdness, Letta explores both factual and fictional storytelling and their effects IRL, employing speculative investigations, world-building, and visual narratives as her methodologies.

lettashtohryn.com