Ecstatic Media. Media Art Reconsidered

With works by Uli Aigner, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Danica Dakić, Carola Dertnig, VALIE EXPORT, Harun Farocki, Morgan Fisher, Ulrich Formann, Simone Forti, Dan Graham, Richard Kriesche, Friedl vom Gröller, Helmut Mark, Willem Oorebeek, Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau, Peter Weibel, Heimo Zobernig

The ceaselessly moving imageries of novel media and technologies can provoke intense experiences, and they can induce extraordinary emotional and psychological states. “Ecstatic media” designates two aspects: on the one hand, the potency of media consumer products such as videogames or beauty filters, which fuel emotional and social yearnings; and on the other hand, media art’s strategy of confronting us with media structures in exaggerated form. Artists focus on particular characteristics of media and examine their impact by intensifying and amplifying them.

An alternative history of media art

Artists have long used “ecstatic media” in an effort to expose the technological, aesthetic, and psychological effects of media. The exhibition presents selected works—from avant-garde film and video art to computer animation and data engineering—to trace an alternative history of media art. It is based on the holdings of the Generali Foundation Collection—Permanent Loan to the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, which is dedicated to the preservation and scholarly study of one of the most important collections of media art in Austria.