in:human – audiovisual instalation by Mariusz Szypura

“Ancient life was all silence. In the nineteenth century, with the invention of the machine, Noise was born,” – wrote Luigi Russolo in "The Art of Noises" in 1913. The famous manifesto of the Italian Futurist painter initiated a trend of combining music with visual arts, technology, and culture. Its continuation can be observed in the works of the Dadaists, the Fluxus movement, and artists like Yoko Ono and Nam June Paik, whose sound-based works blurred the boundaries between music, performance, and visual arts. In the 1960s, American percussionist Max Neuhaus was the first to use sound to create site-specific installations. The subsequent development of electronic and digital media expanded the possibilities of sound art. Artists such as Bill Fontana and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer began using synthesizers, computers, and software to build complex sound environments.
Contemporary sound art often intersects with visual arts, performance, and media art. It continually pushes the boundaries of how we experience and understand sound in the context of art. The combination of these two forms of expression allows for the creation of unique, multidimensional experiences for audiences. This year's Venice Biennale was largely dominated by sound exhibitions, such as John Akomfrah's exhibition representing Great Britain, Julien Creuzet's project in the French pavilion, and the exhibition "Sailing Through Fire" by Tod Machover and Lee Bae. These presentations demonstrate how music and sound can influence the perception of visual artworks, creating a new quality of reception.
In his exhibition in:human, Mariusz Szypura presents an installation where music plays the main role, and each piece is complemented by a visualization inspired by the specific composition. Entering the exhibition space, we are transported not only into two parallel musical worlds but also into the corresponding moving graphics. The first element of the composition consists of instrumental music by Silver Rocket and the visuals created for it, which offer a postmodernist view of human beings. In response, the artist prepared the second part, which looks at the same graphic material from the perspective of a machine.
Szypura takes on a new role, which is a consequence of his long-term involvement in visual creation. As a versatile artist, Szypura uses his musical and graphic skills to create multidimensional, interpenetrating works. The integration of music and visual art in the presented installation reflects a dynamic dialogue between tradition and modernity. The in:human exhibition juxtaposes what is human and analogous with what is digital and technological. The music installation is a kind of exercise in preference or a psychological test, to which each visitor is subjected. The choice of one of the two sides of the exhibition reveals the visitor's level of habituation to new technologies.
Will artificial intelligence dominate music? Does it have a chance to prevail over visual arts? Can sounds generated by AI become more popular than those created by analog artists? These are the questions Szypura poses in his music installation, provoking viewers to reflect on the future of art and technology.

“All that seeks a spiritual, not a mechanical being will have to possess this clear-sighted character, intelligently motivated.” – José Ortega y Gasset

Natalia Bradbury
Curator

Видео in:human – audiovisual instalation by Mariusz Szypura канала Mariusz Szypura