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Kaugummi im Motherboard 2.0

Curated by Katya Quel
Exhibition assistant – Marlene Post

PDF with the Artists List
In an era defined by relentless technological acceleration, Kaugummi im Motherboard delves into the psyche of a generation shaped by hyper-connectivity, Youtube-DIY ingenuity, as well as the systemic collapse. The title itself offers a poignant metaphor: the humble act of fixing a complex machine with chewing gum—a naïve yet earnest gesture of repair. This symbolic effort highlights both the vulnerability and resilience of human creativity when confronting overwhelming challenges. Choosing the motherboard as a central metaphor elevates this act into a meditation on care and origins: the computer’s core as a maternal figure, nurturing and foundational, yet fragile and requiring our stewardship.

The artists in this exhibition respond to the fragmentation of contemporary life through glitched aesthetics, speculative environments, and a fusion of nostalgia with invention. Their works are not utopias in the traditional sense but rather layered fantasies: expressions of escape, critique, and the search for alternative modes of being. Employing digital fantasies, modified robotics, and underground culture, these creators reveal the contradictions of life post-internet, oscillating between exuberant experimentation and a critical reckoning with a capitalist system that often feels inescapable.

This dynamic results in works that refuse binaries—retreat versus resistance, destruction versus creation —embracing instead the chaotic beauty of their in-between spaces. In doing so, Kaugummi im Motherboard captures the ethos of a generation that is both burdened by systemic failures and energized by the potential of speculative futures.

Amidst a landscape dominated by institutional gatekeeping and entrenched systems of funding and recognition, Kaugummi im Motherboard positions itself as a radically inclusive gesture. Emerging from an open call that embraced the majority of its applicants, this project represents a collective experiment —a curatorial initiative sustained without the backing of state or private funding. Its independence becomes both a challenge and a strength, embracing openness, collaboration, and creative freedom as central tenets.

Imagine a motherboard, its circuits humming with the essential functions of a world we depend on. Suddenly, something falters—a crack, a break in the seamless network of connections. In a world obsessed with speed, growth, perfection, and wealth, the failure feels catastrophic. And yet, a piece of chewing gum—cheap, humble, temporary, imperfect—is pressed into place, bridging the gap. It’s a stopgap measure, but for a moment, it holds. "Kaugummi im Motherboard" is both metaphor and call to action: a vision of a future where small, human acts of repair resist the suffocating dominance of rigid systems. This manifesto rejects the cold sterility of the white cube art world, with its lifeless minimalism and exclusionary arrogance. Instead, it demands a multi-layered, inclusive space where many voices converge, where each inch of space is imbued with meaning and value.

We remember. Memories persist in the belief that the internet, once a tool of liberation, could decentralize governments and foster a global democracy. We held the same fragile hopes for crypto—a dream of an unshackled, equitable economy. The gum teaches us to hope anew, this time not for grand revolutions but for the power of collective action, however imperfect.

Emanuele Resce