Exploring Digital Desires at LOODS 6  

Semester 9 is delighted to present the ‘Post-Fascism’, a group exhibition initiated by Paris-based curator Alexandre Pastor at LOODS 6 in Amsterdam. This exhibition invites us to contemplate the influence of algorithms on our worldview and behaviour.

Within this exhibition, the narrow yet elongated layout of LOODS 6 serves as a tunnel that seamlessly guides visitors through successive stages of an algorithmically induced world. Here, the artists reveal how algorithms exert their influence – directing attention towards sensational violence, evoking pleasure, fostering alienation, fueling speculative thinking, and ultimately leaving us amidst a desolate, non-human world orchestrated by machines. The works in the exhibition show a broad spectrum of responses and attitudes that prevail in an age where societal progression and regression seem to continually match each other.

With this exhibition, curator Alexandre Pastor questions to what extent we can retain free will and democracy in a world where our desires are increasingly governed and exploited by ever more sophisticated digital scripts. This exhibition serves as a stark reminder that the future has materialised much sooner than anticipated, catching us unprepared. We are left to wonder whether democratic ideals will sustain when both the ghosts of the past and future are haunting us in the present.

May you live in interesting times.

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