Instant Infinity

Throughout 2022 we saw the rising discourse between the internet and nature. Questions regarding how they relate, interact and morph into one another have been rife, and subsequently, the art which has sprung from such dialogues has been fertile and fascinating. From Design Museum Den Bosch’s A Digital Nature to the Tate’s Radical Landscapes, a ruckus has been aroused and it is important that we listen. Two curators taking on this narrative, and adding an additional voice — that of us, humans — are Isabelle van Manen and Doron Beuns’ curation at OFFGRID agency: Instant Infinity. Adding to the myriad of questions (and somewhat hypothesising the answers), they ask: Do we want to amuse ourselves to death? Or are we crafting a network that actually facilitates the true bandwidth of human potential?

Taking on this discourse, queries and contemplations, Instant Infinity shared a group exhibition focussed on our co-existence with the internet. Presenting the works of Annie van Noortwijk, Carl Rethman, Daan Couzijn, Doron Beuns, Elizaveta Federmesser, Natalia Jordanova, Max King, Seb Price and Viola Renate. The work was bold, fearless, and most importantly within today’s landscape, actively alive with debate.

Through an exploration of life and its adapting practices due to technology, the Instant Infinity artists explore their position as the “second wave of Post-Internet artists”, in an increasingly digital world. From spiritual warfare, and identity to notions of what the future holds; each piece has its own unique story to tell and position within the conversation. Ultimately, the exhibition concluded that “the internet is a place of extreme duality and contradiction” and within this polarising world, dull moments are exceptional and art seems to be the answer.