AUGUST 26 - NOVEMBER 05, 2017

OPENING: FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 7PM

With contributions by: Paolo Cirio, Kate Cooper, Albrecht Fuchs, Thomas Hirschhorn, Annette Kelm, Oliver Laric, Michaela Meise, Birgit Megerle und Britta Thie

Up to today, the natural face has been a sign of individuality, personal expression and authenticity. Face-recognition has established itself as a standard in biometric procedures and visual data analysis. At the same time, this authentic representation of human faces is dissolving for good and all in the age of digital image processing, 3D scans and renderings. The face is becoming a »surface«, the individual characteristics algorithmically smoothed out. Not a social network, not a messenger app that does not demand a profile image. The face is closely linked to political, social and cultural participation simultaneously. Faces determine the media; they influence opinions and attitudes. We can show our face, but also lose it. The Western commitment to showing face openly confronts a culture of the veil.

»FaceTunes« concerns itself with the current conditions governing faces and their visual representation within contemporary art. It enquires into the important role of portraits and equally into the acceptance of artificial faces. The exhibition develops possibilities for observing human faces, which go beyond the traditional concepts of portraiture – or the selfie-boom.

To mark the exhibition, a 28-page brochure will be published (German/English).

The exhibition is supported by