Gestures of Tomorrow at Kunstverein Nürnberg / Nuremberg

Gestures of Tomorrow / Curated by Judith Grobe


Julien Prévieux, Mia Goyette, Nona Inescu, Rachel de Joode, Sandra Vaka Olsen


10.09.2016 – 20.11.2016


Kunstverein Nürnberg
Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft
Kressengartenstraße 2
90402 Nürnberg



Events
Minutes (21): September 30, 2016, 7 pm
Exhibition talk with Kathrin Meyer  
(Curator, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden)


Minutes (22): November 2, 2016, 7 pm
Artist talk with Sandra Vaka Olsen 


Kunst, Sekt & Obst: September 18, 2016, 1 pm  
Sunday tour through the exhibition with Judith Grobe und Simone
Neuenschwander


Public guided tours: Oktober 20 and November 17, 2016, respectively at 6 pm 


Rachel de Joode, Sculpted Human Skin In Rock III, 2015. Installationsansicht / Installation view, Kunstverein Nürnberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, 2016. Courtesy the artist; Neumeister Bar-Am, Berlin


Julien Prévieux, What Shall We Do Next? (Séquence #2), 2014 
HD-Video 16:47 min. Film Still. Courtesy the artist; Galerie Jousse Entreprise, Paris



Sandra Vaka Olsen, Days / UV wall, 2016. Installationsansicht / Installation view, Kunstverein Nürnberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, 2016. Courtesy the artist

 Mia Goyette, The prospect of an end, 2016. Installationsansicht / Installation view, Kunstverein Nürnberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, 2016. Courtesy the artist

Sandra Vaka Olsen, Sunscreenpill, 2014. Installationsansicht / Installation view, Kunstverein Nürnberg– Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, 2016. Courtesy the artist

Nona Inescu, Sleight-of-hand, 2015 / Moon Moon Moon, 2015. Installationsansicht / Installation view,Kunstverein Nürnberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, 2016. Courtesy the artist; SABOT, Cluj-Napoca(RO)

Nona Inescu, Dactyloscopy, 2015. Installationsansicht / Installation view, Kunstverein Nürnberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, 2016. Courtesy the artist; SABOT, Cluj-Napoca (RO)

Nona Inescu, Palmistry, 2015. Installationsansicht / Installation view, Kunstverein Nürnberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft, 2016. Courtesy the artist; SABOT, Cluj-Napoca (RO)


The exhibition Gestures of Tomorrow confronts social and technological
inscriptions on the human body. Closing in on the interrelationship between
everyday activities and digital developments, it examines their impact on our
intuitive, gestural vocabulary. How do new technologies affect us and what
gestures do they bring about? 

In recent decades, our hands have become increasingly important as a means
of communication in areas that have since continuously shifted. As machines
replace manual labour, the hand’s area of activity has gained new meaning
through the automation and standardization of work processes. At the same
time, digital media have led to new movement patterns that significantly affect
our body and our living environment. For example, the introduction of touch
screens has replaced the pressing of buttons and keys with movements such
as “swiping”, while the operation of computers will likely be possible with
nearly no physical touch at all, thanks to ultra-sensitive radar technology.
The artists approach this theme from a variety of perspectives. While some
have conducted scientific research on the future of our movements, others
have meticulously explored the physical footprints and traces of human
behaviours. A comprehensive study on gestures, for example, includes an
analysis of movements arising from the operation of technical devices (Julien
Prévieux). The artists also reflect on how the human body might optimize
itself, in light of current developments in the area of “human enhancement”
and pharmaceutical microbiology (Sandra Vaka Olsen, Rachel de Joode). 
Given its role in operating a wide variety of devices, the hand is scrutinized in 
its function as a tool and instrument, but also as a metaphor of the individual
and the tactile (Mia Goyette, Nona Inescu). This touches on issues such as
the dual function of human gestures between revealing and concealing, and
conscious and unconscious action.
The works presented in the exhibition are distinguished by their particular
affinity to performative strategies and an eagerness for experimentation
during the production process. With their individual observations of reality, the
artists engage with the current discourse surrounding the interaction between 
the human organism, the environment and visionary technologies.