iMAL

30 Quai des Charbonnages
Koolmijnenkaai, 1080 Brussels
Art Center for Digital Cultures & Technology

I am vertical (but I would rather be horizontal)

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ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

I am vertical (but I would rather be horizontal) reflects on iMAL’s 25 years of history and looks towards its future as an institution dedicated to digital cultures, at a time when computation is increasingly scrutinised for its social and environmental impact.

More than a retrospective, this ‘introspective’ combines artworks previously shown at iMAL with more recent creations. Together, they celebrate a rich aesthetic diversity outside of Silicon Valley’s monoculture. It is a moment to pause and evaluate the value of past, current and future digital art. The exhibition is named after Sylvia Plath’s poem I am vertical, in which she contemplates her own existence, by evoking the disconnect between her human verticality and her profound desire to be horizontal, in harmony and connected with nature.

Digital culture is inextricably linked to the production of e-waste and increasing land, resource, energy and water use. It also has social and political ramifications such as the impact of generative AI on labour and that of surveillance on privacy and democracy. Big Tech monoculture promotes consumerism while obfuscating its social and ecological impact. What does that mean for artists working with digital media ?

The works in I am Vertical (but I would rather be horizontal) offer a space to reflect on the possibility of digital cultures that do not seek to scale at the expense of planetary boundaries, and instead embrace limits as opportunity to reclaim creativity.

ARTISTS

Cécile Babiole
Peter Beyls
Jonah Brucker-Cohen
Quentin Destieu, Sylvain Huguet - Collectif Dardex
Sunjoo Lee
Leonard Leyens
Val Macé
Raquel Meyers
Navid Navab
Suzanne Treister
Claire Williams

The poem

I am vertical,

But I would rather be horizontal.

I am not a tree with my root in the soil

Sucking up minerals and motherly love

So that each March I may gleam into leaf,

Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed

Attracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted,

Unknowing I must soon unpetal.

Compared with me, a tree is immortal

And a flower-head not tall, but more startling,

And I want the one's longevity and the other's daring.

Tonight, in the infinitesimal light of the stars,

The trees and flowers have been strewing their cool odors.

I walk among them, but none of them are noticing.

Sometimes I think that when I am sleeping

I must most perfectly resemble them—

Thoughts gone dim.

It is more natural to me, lying down.

Then the sky and I are in open conversation,

And I shall be useful when I lie down finally:

Then the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time for me.

I AM VERTICAL (BUT I WOULD RATHER BE HORIZONTAL)

-Sylvia Plath, 1961

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Artworks

Connected events

All

Credits

Curation:

Marloes de Valk, Aymeric Mansoux, iMAL team (Yannick Antoine, Élie Bolard, Lucía García & Louise Wadier)

Graphic Design:

OSP

Technical team:

Thibaut Drouillon, Ludo Engels, Pierre Émile Gérard, Marine Séjourné

Scenography:

Gilbard

Curatorial & production assistance:

Boris Daems, Maxence Duterne, Thaïs Pellerin Le Galo

Mediation team:

Fatoumata Bangoura, Maxime D’Altoe, Noah Destrée, Salma Hammouda, Alice Luque, Silvia Sartorio, Cecilia Quiroga, Paz Quiroga, Jeffrey Wynnyk

Translations:

iMAL team, interns & William Vanderborght

Video documentation:

Kristina Ianatchkova

Press agency:

Club Paradis

Thanks to:

Ischa Tallieu, Sam Tubbex, Ysa Parrini, Vivien Roubaud

Co-funded by

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With the support of

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iMAL is supported by

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