the ambivalence of a simulated present
In my artistic practice, analog artifacts and digital processes merge into hybrid visual worlds that reflect memory, identity and the effects of digital transformation. I am fascinated by the ambivalence of our analog and digital present, and how algorithms change our perception.
between analog and digital
The starting point for many of my works is analog found objects: Letters, photographs, family albums or forgotten objects. Digital processing and artificial intelligence re-contextualize these traces – somewhere between documentation and fiction.
Who am I when algorithms define me?
A central medium is the moving image in an endless loop. The loop denies the end, visualizes change and return – and refers to the digital infinity in which time and memory circulate. My works address the ambivalence of perfect memory through intelligent systems. Cloud archives store our traces, algorithms analyze us in real time. Can they tell us who we are?
feasible or ethical?
Technological progress is accelerating rapidly. The trade-off between feasibility and responsibility is becoming the key question of our time. In the end, there is no certainty – but a question:
Who or what do we want to become in a future where machines could claim interpretive authority over our existence?
Erika Kassnel-Henneberg, July 2025
