In recent years, we have become increasingly concerned about the risks associated with using AI, especially the ethical side of things. AI gets demonised, credited with sentience, and being adept at concealing it to avoid detection.
If we stop questioning whether androids dream of electric sheep and whether information is a new animate or inanimate species but rather reflect how we could coexist with other types of consciousness, whether digital, technical or biological, we would be able to discover some shared practices that could help further our progress. In video games, the player is guided through a script where each step predetermines a specific outcome. Similarly, we should work out a critical stance that rejects linearity and embraces randomness, where no one ‘inside the game’ hints at what to do at any given moment.
The tasks of the digital world and their logic transform into the tasks and routines of daily life in the physical world that are performed on autopilot. This is similar to implanted brain chips, suggesting certain actions in certain predetermined conditions. But the world rejects linear conditioning, it allows for random outcomes by default. Cars that are part of the traffic follow traffic rules, but suddenly one of them drives off the highway and no longer follows the rules, violating determinism and safety.
The show’s title, sv_gravity 0, is a cheat code in the popular computer game CS 1.6. This code allows the player to eliminate gravity within the gameplay, which violates the laws of physics, making the game world less predictable. The artists featured in the exhibition reflect on stochastic processes and algorithms. In their projects, they juxtapose the polar opposites of living/nonliving, magical/scientific, digital/material, and pose questions about the organisation of coexistence with new types of technological bodies and consciousnesses.
Nika Peshekhonova investigates the subjects of transformative virtual experience, mythology generated by technological and scientific progress, and phenomena emerging at their intersection with various rituals. Alexander Lemish explores the impact of Internet culture and social networks on daily life through the lens of horror aesthetics. Roman Golovko interrogates themes related to borderline and transitional states, socio-cultural phenomena, cultural expansion, and coincidences and rituals. In his installation, he applies the principles of chance and self-organising structures, including characteristic breakdowns and errors. Mika Zon is inspired by the audio aesthetics of goregrind, an extreme subgenre of metal, and the aesthetics of old printed graphics. He focuses on lowbrow imagery as a material expression of the social body. Sasha Puchkova's objects embody both forced submission and resistance, eliminated and created using fabric and soft media. Puchkova immerses the viewer in a virtual world with the help of real-life objects, using an inversion of techniques.

Slava Nesterov

Artists:

Nika Peshekhonova (b. 1994, Belarus) is a Moscow-based multidisciplinary artist, and alumna of the Rodchenko Art School (BA in Virtual Environment Design). Across her artistic practice, Nika works with 3D graphics and animation, neural networks, 3D printing, and kinetic installations. Selected shows: Art for the Future (MAMM, 2022), About Chimeras, Hybrids, Cyborgs and Humans (Triumph Gallery, 2022), Of New Monsters, Earth Created More (másla lissé, 2023).

Sasha Puchkova (b. 1989, Baikonur, Kazakhstan) is a Moscow-based interdisciplinary artist,working with graphics, ceramics, digital collage, and VR, as well as objects and installations. Member of the Digital Object Alliance and ШШШ (ShShSh) groups. Graduated as a graphic designer (2012), and studied History and Theory of Art at the Saint Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design (2012–2014), Media Design at the British Higher School of Art and Design (2015–2016), Interactive and Communication Media workshop at the Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia (2016–2019), received a Master’s degree from the University of Manchester (UK) at the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (2022). Participated in the 6th Ural Biennale of Contemporary Art in Yekaterinburg (2021). Resident of the Garage Studios (2022–2023) and the 9th season of Open Studios at Winzavod CCA (2023). Sasha’s works can be found in the collections of the Multimedia Art Museum (Moscow) and ‘Micricollection’ (Italy).

Roman Golovko (b. 1977, Tolyatti) is a Moscow-based interdisciplinary artist, sound artist and experimental musician, alumnus of the BAZA Institute. He creates sound sculptures, spatial installations, sound art performances, improvised electroacoustic music, and field recordings, and conducts experiments with sound deformation and deconstruction of lyrics. Selected shows: Hidden Categories (Vadim Sidur Museum, 2023), Living Matter (New Tretyakov Gallery, 2021), All This Shall Pass and Be Forgotten (Fabrika Center for Contemporary Art, 2021), Digital Earth (Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, 2021).

Alexander Lemish (b. 1982, Kimry) is a Moscow-based multidisciplinary artist, graduate of the BAZA Institute, former member of the IP Vinogradov self-organised art community. Selected solo shows: PLEMENNOE at IP Vinogradov (2020), 4REAL* at the Vadim Sidur Museum with the support of the Fābula Gallery (2023). Selected group shows: Dystopian Party Collection at Spas Setun (2021); In the Dust of This Planet at the ART4 Museum (2022); Terminal B at the Smena Center of Contemporary Culture in Kazan (2022); Street Magic at Plague Space in Krasnodar (2022).

Mika Zon (b. 1996, Vladivostok) is a Moscow-based multidisciplinary artist, graduate of the Vladivostok State University, and the BAZA Institute. Zon experiments with the possibilities of raster graphics, exploring the visual language of biological tissues and synthetic materials. Selected shows: Aleph (K320 Gallery, 2024), Days of Future Past (Elektrozavod Gallery, 2024), Don't Follow the White Rabbit (Grafit Center, 2023).