Archives 2024
Cyber Structures: Material Realities – Digital Experiences
18.05-06.10.2024
Interactions with the digital sphere have become part of our daily lives, and they are almost exclusively wireless. The Internet and the Cloud are accessible at the click of a button and at any time, like invisible, vaporous objects. But these services are based on a colossal infrastructure that sprawls across the planet.
Data centres, underground cables, intercontinental submarine cables, antennas and satellites make up this decentralised and interconnected infrastructure, which functions like a network of networks. Paradoxically, its omnipresence in our lives often makes us forget the ecological, political, cultural, and social issues linked to its deployment and use.
In 2024 Elektron explores this paradox through seven exhibition projects and artworks presented as part of an urban itinerary. Linking key locations in the town centre of Esch-sur-Alzette, Cyber Structures: Material Realities – Digital Experiences provides an opportunity to discover and better understand the ecological, political, and social implications of this infrastructure through art.
Presented in both indoor and outdoor spaces, the installations address key issues such as: How does the artistic use of technology allow us to see the impact of human activities on the planet in a new and disruptive way? What forms do surveillance and digital colonialism take around the world? How do the Internet and social networks contribute to the creation of communities and a collective visual memory?
These questions are addressed in the installations across town. They are explored in greater depth and linked to the specific context of Esch-sur-Alzette and the Greater Region through meetings and workshops with Luxembourgish and international experts. This rich public programme reflects Elektron's ambition to become the reference platform for art, digital technology, science and social issues in the Greater Region.
In collaboration with Esch Capitale Culturelle, Konschthal Esch, Bridderhaus, Cultures of Assembly, Université du Luxembourg, Spektrum, the CLAIRE programme at Ville d'Esch-sur-Alzette, Bijouterie Hirsch as well as the co-owner's association of Centre Mercure.
