“Alien matter” refers to man-made, and at the same time, radically different, potentially intelligent matter. It is the outcome of a naturalization of technological artifacts.

Environments shaped by technology result in new relationships between man and machine. Technical objects, previously defined merely as objects of utility, have become autonomous agents. Their capacity to learn and network throws into question the previously clear and dominant division between active subject and passive object. 30 exhibiting artists from Berlin and around the world presented works about shifts within such power structures, raising questions about the state of our current environment and whether it has already passed the tipping point, becoming “alien matter.” Content-wise, the works clustered around four thematic focal points: Artificial intelligence, plastics, infrastructure, and the Internet of Things—subcategories that are deemed to merge into the nascent great machine and thereby, to speak with Günther Anders, are future obsolete.

Within the scope of ever elusive – thirty years of transmediale, the special exhibition "alien matter" was on view from 2 February to 5 March 2017 at Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

With text contribtutions by:
Inke Arns, Nora N. Khan, Daniel Rourke, Eugene Thacker, Elvia Wilk

Including artworks by:
Aliens in Green, Moreshin Allahyari and Daniel Rourke with Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow, Joey Holder, Kuang-Yi Ku, Constant Dullart, Ignas Krunglevičius, Mark Lecke, Joep van Liefland, Jeroen van Loon, Nicolas Maigret and Maria Roszkowska with Jonathan Beilin and Magnus Pind Bjerre, Katja Novitskova, Sascha Phoflepp, Johannes Paul Raether, Evan Roth, Suzanne Treister, Addie Wagenknecht, YoHa, Pinar Yoldas

Read the full catalogue introduction alien matter – An Introduction by Inke Arns.

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