Silver Egg. The Sensuality of Media Art

Eros, the god of passionate love, appears as a primal force for cultural evolution and renewal in myths and philosophy. In connection to art, divine Eros has evolved into an influential visual and conceptual figure of vital significance. As soon as he comes into play as a driving force, life is imbued with intensity and immediacy, leading to advances in creativity. The exhibition Silver Egg is a call for an erotic attitude towards the world and asks: What are the media and forms of perception in art for addressing the desires and deficiencies of our time? 

In the Beginning Was the Egg

According to one original scene, the god of love hatched from a silver world-egg as a force of creation and order amid cosmic winds. In Greek philosophy, Eros becomes a mediator between heaven, earth, and the arts. When humans sense creative energies of connection, they experience a sensuous draw into life. These energies of desire and self-improvement fuel artistic, scientific, and societal activities. 

Back to the Origin of Meaningfulness

Over the course of art history, the propositions of the cosmogonic myth have narrowed down: Under the doctrine of Christian ethics and logocentrism, Eros is primarily regarded as a frivolous representative of sexual seduction. Silver Egg. The Sensuality of Media Art branches out from the broader mythological field in order to bring established dichotomies of intuition and reason, myth and science, experience and insight, representation and immediacy into one living framework. 

Enthusiasm for Art

The significance of the erotic for the production and reception of art has been argued throughout the history of thought – all the way from Plato to Karl Jaspers, Georges Bataille, Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Julia Kristeva, Audre Lorde, and Jean-Luc Nancy. Intellectuality and knowledge on the one hand and enthusiasm and pleasure on the other form the poles of productive cooperation and opposition that give rise to new things. The aesthetic space of the exhibition makes this tension immediately palpable.

Exploring the Possible

In order to shape their future, societies need a certain sensitivity for the presence and an imaginative horizon. In times of omnipresent turbulences, disruptions, aggressions, and political division, the exhibition calls for a reasonable and at the same time sensual approach to the philosophical Eros – within the testing grounds of media art. Around 30 international positions of involved, experimental, and poetic art come together to outline a creative practice centered around the desire for intense confrontation with what is conceptually and technically possible.

Riding the Unknown into the Future

Media sculptures, hybrid installations, and film works explore opportunities and questions about robotics, senses, energy, kinetics, and ecology, addressing both conviviality and the threats to social and elementary living environments.

Embarking upon a journey from the known into the unprotected and risky leads to daring creative processes, which result in inspiring forms of experience and ideas. Silver Egg invites all visitors to delve into a sensual sphere of sound, light, scent, movement, and touch, and to follow the pulse and rhythms of the living Eros.