The exhibition "Glitch in the Matrix - Beate Gütschow and Charlotte Triebus" is dedicated to the seemingly invisible sphere of influence between people and technology. The title is inspired by the film "The Matrix" (1999), in which a glitch symbolizes an interruption or malfunction and questions the everyday understanding of reality. The term has since developed into a pop-cultural metaphor that refers to the uncertainty of perception and the blurring of the line between reality and illusion - especially in connection with digital and virtual worlds.

In the exhibition, the two artists Beate Gütschow and Charlotte Triebus make the glitch tangible. In their works, they refer to moments in which apparent continuities of reality and the virtual are disrupted - to a stutter in the matrix. In doing so, they explore how the intertwining of analogue reality and the digital fundamentally shapes and changes our lives and, above all, our perception: How do algorithms and AI influence our view of the world? How do they begin to determine our actions and interpersonal relationships? How do we perceive ourselves, our bodies in this liminal space? How do we deal with questions about authenticity, privacy and manipulation? Do we still act independently? And does the interplay of online and offline perhaps even produce new forms of perception?

Artists

The photographer Beate Gutschow (*1970 in Mainz am Main, lives in Berlin and Cologne) creates picturesque landscapes in her photographs that seem strangely remote. Through digital processing, she combines various images to create impressive compositions that are reminiscent of classical painting.

Different perspectives collide, making the works seem unreal upon closer inspection. By removing, adding, distorting or changing image elements, she creates a perceptual play between surreal and hyperreal effects. Due to our conditioned perception, we overlook the breaks and gaps at first glance. Only when we take a closer look at the landscape does the blurred line between reality and fiction become noticeable.

You can find more information here.

The performance artist and choreographer Charlotte Triebus (*1988 in Duisburg, lives and works in Cologne) works at the interface of fine art, dance and digital media. In her artistic practice, she explores the relationship between technology and physicality in a poetic and critical way. What happens to our physical perception when we continuously switch between analogue and digital spaces? How does digital communication change our perception of closeness, intimacy and social interaction?

For the ongoing project "afk" she creates larger-than-life portraits of choreographers that have been deconstructed using technical means. The banners show realistic scans of human skin that have been specially prepared for the creation of avatars (graphic representations that represent real people in virtual space) and arranged in a specific pattern on a flat surface.

This process creates fragmented, sometimes blurred body images that seem familiar and strange at the same time. As visitors walk through the room between the banners, they inevitably reassemble the fragmented bodies in their mind's eye and thus set them in motion. This creates a unique reality for each viewer that changes their own perception. The title "afk" stands for "away from keyboard" and refers to the moment when someone moves away from the keyboard and thus from the virtual world to experience real interpersonal interactions.

You can find more information here.