Exhibition

  • The City of Broken Windows
    Hito Steyerl
    Artist
    Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and Marianna Vecellio
    Curators
    Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli
    Oct 31, 2018 to Jun 30, 2019
  • GRANTEE
    Hito Steyerl
    GRANT YEAR
    2018

Hito Steyerl, installation view of The City of Broken Windows, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, 2018, Rivoli, Italy. Courtesy of the artist, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, and Esther Schipper, Berlin. Photo: Antonio Maniscalco.

The City of Broken Windows at Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea centers on sound recordings, altered by the artist, that document the process of teaching artificial intelligence to recognize the sound of breaking windows. Recorded in an airplane hangar in the United Kingdom, thousands of windows were smashed, creating a discordant symphony. Disseminated throughout the space, the sound is accompanied by wall-mounted text elements drawn from interviews with artificial intelligence researchers. At the conclusion of the installation, a large window within the historical space of the museum, the Manica Lunga, will be left shattered, with its remnants left on display on the floor.

Hito Steyerl lives and works in Berlin. Steyerl's prolific filmmaking and writing occupies a highly discursive position between the fields of art, philosophy, and politics, constituting a deep exploration of late capitalism's social, cultural, and financial imaginaries. Her films and lectures increasingly address the presentational context of art, while her writing circulates widely through publication in both academic and art journals, often online. She has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2016); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; Artists Space, New York; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2015); Van Abbemuseum, Eidenhoven, The Netherlands; Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, UK; Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany (2014); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2013); the Art Institute of Chicago; E-flux, New York (2012); Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK (2010); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (2009); and Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2008). Group exhibitions include the German Pavilion, 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy; the Hannover Kunstverein, Hannover, Germany; CAC Vilnius, Vilnius, Lithuania (2015); Cut to Swipe, The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Darknet, Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Switzerland; Bienal de la Imagen en Movimento, Goethe- Institut Buenos Aires, Argentina (2014); The Way of the Shovel: Art as Archeology, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago; Nine Artists, Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Bergen Triennial, Bergen, Norway; Venice Biennale (2013); Taipei Biennial; Gwangju Biennial (2010); documenta 12, Kassel (2007) and Manifesta 5,  San Sebastian (2004).