GLITCH: ONTOLOGICAL EXHAUSTIONS & SYSTEM FAILURES

14 March 2025 - 4 May 2025
In Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, Malta

The exhibition GLITCH: ONTOLOGICAL EXHAUSTIONS & SYSTEM FAILURES is conceived as a comparative study of resistance movements spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. Eight artists critically examine the (digital) dynamics present in crisis scenarios involving resistance and activism, surveillance and algorithms, as well as camouflage and coding. The exhibition concept is authored by Verena Voigt M.A. (Investigative Curator, GFZK e.V.). The installations feature works by Patrick Amadon (requested), Ruth Bianco, Joanna Moll, Katrin Leitner, Nadja Verena Marcin, Michael Betancourt, Ian Keaveny, and Niklas Washausen. An artistic-curatorial collaboration is being developed with representatives of the GLITCH ART movement (Michael Betancourt, Ian Keaveny, Niklas Washausen), incorporating found footage from the East German Resistance Archives (Stasi archive). This new production, titled “Ghosts of Our Lives,” pays homage to cultural critic Mark Fisher. In her essay GLITCH PHENOMENA 3.0. she contextualises the GLITCH within the realms of resistance and disruption.
At Spazju Kreattiv, she explores the question: Is the Glitch still a safe passage?
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The PLATFORM GLITCH AESTHETIC was founded in 2023 with the help of the NEUSTART KULTUR funding "Platforms of Fine Arts" from funds from the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media. The exhibition and discussion program with artifacts by Rosa Menkman, Nadja Verena Marcin, Katrin Leitner & Isaac Sullivan gave fascinating insights into the alchemy of glitch art, glitch feminism and addressed topics such as algorithm addiction, AI detoxification and hallucination. The Platform-Curator is Verena Voigt M.A.
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The project documentation is entitled GLITCH PHENOMENA 3.0 and is available as a curatorial essay in PDF format. The institute's collection can be viewed on request in the Digitalvilla in Potsdam. Our curatorial commitment is rooted in the manifesto GLITCH FEMINISM, published in 2020 by the New York-based author, activist and curator Legacy Russell.
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GLIT©H ::: hybr*d lecturƎ  pƎrformancƎs ___ noisy deep islands__ ZeM annual focus 2023/24
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The glitch art lessons "Refusal Turned Into Art", as the Tagesspiegel, 12. April 2023 titled the program in the Digitialvilla on Hedy-Lamarr-Platz in Neubabelsberg) were continued with the symposium LOSS CONTROL__noisy deep islands__. The Brandenburg Center for Media Studies had announced the annual theme 2023/24 LOSS CONTROL and the Digitalvilla/ GFZK e.V. received one of the grants for a creative event format. Digitalvilla, in collaboration with GFZK e.V., invited people to seven hybr*d lecturƎ  pƎrformancƎs on December 4th and 8th.
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Internationally known glitch art theorists and activists such as Michael Betancourt (Georgia, USA, ZooM), Rosa Menkman (NL), FU:BAR curator and artist Ian Keaveny (Ireland, ZooM), Niklas Washausen (ZooM) FB Art Education and Didactics, University of Potsdam, Till Rückwart, metaLAB (at) FU Berlin, Joana Moll (Artist, KHM, Berlin, Cologne, Barcelona) as well as editorial designer and artistic designer of the publication GLITCH PHENOMENA 3.0. Luis A. Borchardt & Dean Schwarz, graphic designers (Mainz, Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam) were invited. The event is documented on the PLATFORM GLITCH AESTHETICS YouTube channel.
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Reflecting on the term LOSS CONTROL opened up new perspectives on GLITCH THEORY. It was not about loss of control, but about recording obvious losses. In order to measure the gap between perception and reflected control (of loss), the GLITCH has an important signaling function. It can make the invisible of loss visible and is an effective indicator of system deficits, undocumented functions and predetermined breaking points in the digital and non-digital. As such, it provides insights into unrecognized properties of systems and processes. It seems to contain knowledge of repair options. As an intentional GLITCH, it provides opportunities to visualize social ruptures. In the shadow of the GLITCH, hidden places of camouflage appear. Through intelligent strategies of mimicry, the GLITCH is subversive: an instrument of subtle camouflage.
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Other important events in 2023: The international PLATFORM GLITCH AESTHETICS, based in Potsdam, followed the Sotheby's auction GLITCH: BEYOND BINARY and the exhibition GLITCH. ART OF DISTURBANCE in the Pinakothek der Moderne in 2023. An article in KUNSTKRANT.NL provides an overview of 2023; current events have been and will be shared with the artists on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK. Every 4th Friday of the month, the PLATFORM GLITCH AESTHETICS meets for a network exchange via ZooM.
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On October 16, 2024, we will present a new artifact by Laura Ranglack in the Digitalvilla. We are currently preparing an exhibition at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta (Malta) for spring 2025: GLITCH: ONTOLOGICAL EXHAUSTIONS & SYSTEM FAILURES.
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Moderation & Concept: Verena Voigt M.A. GFZK e.V. (Investigative Curator)
In Cooperation with Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Norbert Gronau, Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik, Prozesse und Systeme.

Digitalvilla in Potsdam
Hedy-Lamarr-Platz, 14482 Potsdam