Galerie Trafo, Prague, presents a solo exhibition of one of the founders of Trafačka, UNPAINTED artist Jakub Nepraš (1981), entitled Digital Endemits. The title of the exhibition comes from botany – the term “endemic” refers to an organism that arises and occurs only in a certain geographical area and nowhere else. It is specific biological “information” of its kind, anchored in prehistory or in another time, based on unpredictable changes that travel through evolution not only as evidence of itself, but as a catalyst for processes and events that participate in the evolution of the whole and connect the past to the future.
The private vernissage of the show opens on Tuesday, November 29, 7 pm.
Curated by Radek Wohlmuth.
Hypothetical digital endemics, whose existence is toyed with in the exhibition concept, can represent differential elements at the technological level up to the level of self-organized data systems, including AI. Both areas then have a direct impact not only on human society, but also on the organization of life in general, opening up a web of questions which, although often not yet expressed, are already occupying us. These are the questions that interest Jakub Nepraš the most.
In keeping with the nature of endemics, his objects have a certain isolation in them, while at the same time it is clear that they did not emerge from nothing. They speak out on a topic that is alive, and they have the opportunity to influence it. In this way, they – like their real prototypes – already gain meaning. Something else that could occupy them is the search for a symbiosis between the actors of natural and digital evolution. By drawing attention to the problematic aspects of our existence in the spirit of commentary, they become filters that can help us resolve such matters on a personal level and distract dangerous realities. At the same time, they branch out through interaction and form a new evolutionary stage.
