MINIMAL RITUALS

Online Group Exhibition

Part of arebyte 2023/24 programme The Body, The Mind, The Soul

Technology meets shamanism through arebyte Plugin

MINIMAL RITUALS is an online exhibition that blurs the boundaries between humans, animals, and machines, and invites us to consider the ways in which technology can be used to reconnect with ourselves and each other through the mineral computation that surrounds us. Featuring a curated selection of works by Latin American artists, the exhibition celebrates the delicate encounters and serendipitous rituals that unfold at our fingertips while navigating the web.

The artists in MINIMAL RITUALS employ various mediums such as video, AI, sound, writing, and performance to transport us to alternate worlds where technology and ritual merge to create new forms of connection and community. By embracing the potential of technology to foster meaningful connections, the exhibition challenges us to reflect on how we can use technology to create a more interconnected and sustainable future.

The exhibition is presented on arebyte Plugin, a new digital tool that offers an innovative way to experience online exhibitions as a series of automatic window pop-ups that appear at different times throughout the day, via a browser plugin. Images, video, 3D digital worlds and other digital content are directly delivered to the viewer’s screen, providing an artistic ‘stopping cue’ from relentless scrolling, email notifications and other computer-centred work.

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As I type these words, I am struck by a sense of wonder: where am I when I go online? Is my location defined by my physical body or my intangible thoughts and experiences? Where are we when we connect through the screen? While these questions may seem simplistic in the context of technological advancements and ubiquitous internet access, they hold a deeper conversation about the nature of self.

Drawing on the reflections of Fabiane M. Borges and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, we can explore the connection between technological innovation and shamanic ritual practices, particularly within the context of indigenous knowledge. The union of techno and shamanism can be approached from three perspectives:

The techno of shamanism, where shamanism is seen as a technology for knowledge production, encompassing the construction of stories, mythologies, medicine, data collection, artifact creation, and the creation of modes of existence; the shamanism of technology, which involves the pursuit of shamanic powers through the use of technology, incorporating theories such as parallel universes, strings, and other concepts that align with shamanic ontology; and the combination of these two fields of knowledge, historically obstructed by religious and colonial forces, such as the Church and later, science, during the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance (M. Borges, 2015).

Written by Doreen A. Ríos

EVENT PROGRAMME

A-Way From Fiction_Happenings
Thurs 7 Sept 2023, 6 - 6:30pm
Online performance streamed on Plugin
Concepción Huerta (CNCPCN) presents a live sound performance from her work "A-WAY FROM FICTION__HAPPENINGS." The performance blends various sounds from different chapters of the new work, utilising green screen technology to reimagine her video piece as visual elements behind her.

Doreen Ríos and Rebecca Edwards in conversation with Sebastián Mira and Flavia Visconte
Thurs 21 Sept, 6 - 6:30pm
Online discussion panel
Join curators Doreen Ríos ([ANTI]MATERIA) and Rebecca Edwards (arebyte) as they discuss the inaugural project for arebyte's plug-in. They are joined by Sebastián Mira and Flavia Visconte who will expand on their work presented in the exhibition.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

César Chirinos (Mexico)
Concepción Huerta (Mexico)
Sebastián Mira (Colombia)
Mónica Nepote (Mexico)
Vica Pacheco (Mexico/Brussels)
Ricardo Sierra (Mexico City)
Flavia Visconte (Argentina)
Kira Xonorika (Paraguay)

GUEST CURATOR

Doreen A. Ríos (Mexico), founder of [ ANTI ] MATERIA

PLUGIN DEVELOPER

10PM (Rob Prouse & Tom Merrell)

César Chirinos (Mexico, 1993) is an artist and researcher working around digital culture and philosophy of technology. He holds a Master's degree in Design, Communication, and Technology at the Metropolitan Autonomous University. He is also a sound artist and a decolonial art critic. His research work focuses on exploring the foundations of technological events and digital culture from a critical perspective. In his creative work, César's main focus is on the liberation of technology, futuristic approaches to spirituality, virtual ecologies, the discursive disposition of conceptual art, and internet aesthetics.

Concepción Huerta (born in 1986) is an interdisciplinary artist who creates aural textures with ambient and noise as pillars to form narrative backgrounds. Her sound exploration is through recordings of everyday life, objects (foleys), and instruments, which when reproduced and manipulated with processed tapes and recorders, create atmospheres based on elements of ambient and noise. She creates sound narratives that are not inserted into a specific musical genre but rather approach the construction of an imagined story that remains invisible.

Sebastián Mira (Colombia, 1994) is interested in the practices of mutuality, friendship, and archiving. His work explores the manifestations of landscape in the virtual, the relationships between physical and digital spaces, and the methods of representation of objects, beings, and places through screens. Mira is currently a member of MSD, a curatorial duo focused on haptic and affective experiences within the digital, specifically in installation, moving image, and sculpture. He is also one half of Johnson & Jeison, an artist duo interested in contemporary land art practices. Sebastián works between Bogotá and the internet. In his free time, he enjoys collecting electronic pets, bricks, and architectural renderings.

Vica Pacheco (born in 1993) is an artist currently based in Brussels. She studied Art at La Esmeralda in México City before graduating from Villa Arson in 2017. Vica's artistic work is characterized by its eclectic and energetic nature. She draws inspiration from a variety of sources, including mythological crossbreeding and syncretism. Vica enjoys combining seemingly unrelated or unexpected elements to create sound performances and installations. Her artistic practice is rooted in music and sound art, but she also works with ceramics and 3D animation.

Ricardo Sierra (born in 1986) is a Mexican artist and educator whose practice encompasses drawing, painting, installation, and digital media. He uses a symbolic approach to explore the visual representation of social transactions and energetic fields, often employing architectural projections to create installations. Sierra's work also reflects upon the pedagogical processes involved in creative production and contemporary art. Recently, he has been exploring themes related to digital communication exchanges, social media culture, and screen studies.

Flavia Visconte (Argentina, 1982) has a Bachelor's in Graphic Design and is currently doing a postgraduate professional update program in Technologies in Contemporary Art from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Her artworks merge video essays, video installations and photography. Her artistic research focuses on the role played by transmedia platforms (nurtured by smartphones, code and video), as well as the specific changes that the use of these technologies can produce in our lives at the level of cognition, perception and sensitivity. In recent work, she researches the impact of reproductive technologies and how they become a battleground for interaction between gender, technology and power structures.

Kira Xonorika (born in 1995) is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and writer. Her work explores several themes, including futurism, AI collaboration, trans and queer temporalities, the relationship between the Global North and South, indigenous sovereignty, internet aesthetics, and Web3. Kira edited an issue of the GenderIT journal called “Trans Perspectives on Technology & Politics from Latin America,” and her writing has been published by notable institutions such as e-flux, Cambridge University, and Tonantzin. Recently, she has given lectures at King’s College London, the University of Eau Claire, and the University of Buenos Aires. Kira Xonorika is also the 2023 Momus/Eyebeam Critical Writing Fellow.

Mónica Nepote (born in 1970) is a Mexican writer, editor, and researcher in digital literature. She is the author of several poetry books, including "Hechos Diversos" and "La voz es mi pastor". Her writing practice involves exploring formats and visual, electronic, and performative codes. In addition to her creative work, Nepote also created the E-Literature area at Centro de Cultura Digital, where she worked extensively until 2021. Her current research focuses on environmentalism and writing. In December 2021, she was integrated into the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte.

PERFORMANCE

PANEL DISCUSSION