Prototype 1.0 and 1.1 2017

Curator: This striking installation before us is "Prototype 1.0 and 1.1" by Hito Steyerl, created in 2017. It’s an arrangement of geometric, blue wooden blocks, forming suggestive figures, set against the gallery’s architecture. Editor: It gives off a wonderfully disconcerting mood, doesn’t it? One almost expects the standing figure to topple over at any moment! There's a subtle, melancholy presence and sense of instability too. Curator: The use of abstraction is interesting here. Rather than realistic representation, Steyerl evokes the human form. We are seeing how memory operates here, just enough visual cues trigger a cascade of associations... Editor: Precisely! The fallen figure, that looks like a deactivated robot and a stacked totemic figure evoke many possibilities, like failure and future technologies or the fall of humanity maybe. The use of the bright blue colour adds to this... almost making you wonder why it's so prominent! Curator: Given Steyerl's fascination with technology, the internet, and surveillance, perhaps we’re meant to consider these forms as early iterations of digital avatars, almost rudimentary AI forms grappling with existence in the physical world. They bring me into reflection on my own being within and alongside digital realms, how technology influences our understanding of ourselves. Editor: It almost makes the viewer question themselves… Perhaps reflecting our human state through this symbolic arrangement… With the rise and fall of civilisations over millennia. A warning maybe about technological development in general. The shapes themselves look deliberately like toys that children play with – they certainly echo earlier forms used by artists like Malevich! Curator: Absolutely! The basic building blocks of something much more complex! I leave this piece with a great deal of intrigue… These geometric beings leave plenty for the viewer to consider on the complex relationships between technology and society! Editor: It certainly provides ample opportunity to contemplate the symbols that form our modern existence... the precarious state in which we live both physically and digitally. Quite impactful!