Material
Glitch

Göteborgs Konsthall continues its long-running tradition of presenting the master students of HDK-Valand’s MFA Fine Art programme.

After a two-year break owing to the pandemic, we were pleased to present the students from HDK-Valand’s Fine Art MFA and their exhibition project at Göteborgs Konsthall. The eight graduating students took the temperature of society in search for a normality that had been so far out of reach during the pandemic.

Material Glitch raised a thought, as the title suggests, that something is wrong with the very structure of existence; that a hidden problem affects the fabric of society. A ‘glitch’ is a problem that usually occurs in electronic systems, when defective software produces incorrect signals. Characteristically, everything seems normal, until suddenly, a bug appears, even just for a fraction of a second, and then disappears again. A glitch is therefore usually difficult to detect, and the underlying system error will remain until it’s fixed.

In the exhibition, the works on display could be seen as diagnoses of the contemporary moment. The students’ artistic explorations had been developed as individual experiments but had also been influenced by their joint conversations. This was a group that had worked together under extraordinary circumstances. In their exhibition, they examined the difficult relationship between our bodies, desires and perceptions, and the systems and processes that shape our lives, and continue to disappoint us: on the one hand the perpetual unravelling of history, and on the other, a future defined by the expanding domain of technology.

The exhibition raised many questions. What consciousness emerges in this uncertain world, where system failures become the new normal? How do we need to equip ourselves for this state of instability? Bringing the blind spot into vision means asking questions about how we create meaning for ourselves. How can we construct meaningfulness without sacrificing ethical principles? Can a reconsideration of our ‘material glitches’ help us reconsider the complex ways in which we try to make life worth living, not only for ourselves, but also for future generations?

Participating students: Elin Alvemark, Ali Ardalan, Amanda Hellryd, Maja Lindberg Schwaner, Kamilla Mez, Viktor Moen, Jennifer Spångerud and Anders Walfridson

A collaboration with HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design, University of Gothenburg.