BEIJING.- The second edition of Beijing Art and Technology Biennale is on view until February 23, 2025. With its theme Earthwise, this edition is curated by Fei Jun and Naiyi Wang, and invites 50 artists and scientists from around the globe to reconsider multiple forms of intelligence, animals, plants, machines, planetary intelligence, etc.
What does it mean to be intelligent? Earthwise aims to break human-centric notions of intelligence, and comprises a selection of provocative works that ruminate on notions of intelligence, offering new perspectives that have extended to large-scale processes, including natural systems and planetary systems. Thomas Feuerstein believes that “intelligence” today means rethinking the differences and boundaries between Us and The Other. In his installation METABOLICA-HYDRA, the narrative actors are algae and bacteria, and these non-human actors host an ancient intelligence that can certainly be described as “Earthwise.” A call for a return to the non-anthropocentrism of egalitarian ecological relations can be found in Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau’s Eau de Jardin, which creates an inductive installation that contemplates interconnectedness between humans and plants.
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s Alienarium connects our encounters with other alien beings, which inspires us to think about how we might relate to one another when untethered from our physical forms. Andrea Anner & Thibault Brevet (AATB) highlights the inextricable entanglement between human perception and cosmic phenomena, A Particular Score III reveals our planetary situation and encourages us to re-evaluate our connection to the universe.
Earthwise features two newly commissioned works that the Biennale has handed to Oscar winner Tim Yip and Chinese new media artist Wang Zhigang. Building upon this expansive definition of intelligence, it also collaborates with institutions and labs, such as Critical Media Lab, ETH AI Center and Art of Hybrid Intelligence Lab, and unfolds through a series of new commissions, including Nolan Oswald Dennis’ sound installation Superpositions, which is composed from geosonic data, a techno-poetic reflection on our relationship to land, deep time, and planetary interconnection.
“The Biennale presents a plurality of voices which are perfect platforms to explore the entanglement of different forms of intelligence,” says curator Naiyi Wang. “Earthwise as a metaphor, which aims to expand the notion of “intelligence” from different perspectives, making us aware of the other intelligences that have been with us all along.”
Participants (in alphabetical order): Andrea Anner & Thibault Brevet (AATB), Art of Hybrid Intelligence Lab, Azusa Murakami & Alexander Groves (A.A.Murakami), Chen Wenling, Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau, Climate Clock, Critical Media Lab, David Colombini & Laura Nieder & Marc Dubois (Fragmentin), Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, ETH AI Center, Gary Hill, Ifor Duncan, Janis Polar, Janiv Oron, Juliane Götz & Sebastian Neitsch (Quadrature), Nolan Oswald Dennis, Oliver Ressler, Solveig Suess, Tekla Aslanishvilli, Thomas Feuerstein, Tim Yip, Tobias Klein, Uwe Rieger & Yinan Liu (arc/sec Lab), Wang Zhigang
