The ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe presents "Silver Egg. The Sensuality of Media Art," an exhibition that brings art, philosophy, and technology into a sensual dialogue. The starting point is the myth of Eros, that creative primal force that has always been regarded as the driving force of cultural development in philosophy and art history. The exhibition explores new forms of perception in an age marked by digital transformations, social tensions, and ecological challenges. Eros is understood not only as a symbol of love, but also as an energy for curiosity, creativity, and forward thinking.
The title "Silver Egg" refers to a mythological primal scene: according to Greek mythology, Eros hatched from a cosmic egg as the organizing and connecting force between heaven, earth, and humankind. In the exhibition, this image becomes the starting point for a journey through artistic positions that intertwine intuition, knowledge, sensuality, and technology. Artistic processes are understood as dynamic forces that can touch people emotionally, intellectually, and physically. In art history, the significance of the erotic for creativity has been reflected upon by thinkers from Plato to Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes. The exhibition continues this tradition and examines how enthusiasm, insight, and desire manifest themselves as productive fields of tension in art. Intellectual reflection and emotional experience are understood not as opposites, but as a shared creative space.
The approximately 30 international artistic positions work with media art as an experimental field of research. Installations, video works, sound spaces, and hybrid sculptures address topics such as robotics, ecology, energy, and social relationships. In the process, the relationship between humans and technology is also rethought: as an opportunity for cooperation rather than domination. The exhibition raises questions about future ways of life and the responsibility of artistic practice in times of global crisis. A central concern of the show is the sensory experience of art. Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in an atmosphere of light, sound, movement, and visual rhythms. Media art is understood here as a space in which perception itself becomes artistic material. The desire for new experiences, for connection, and for future possibilities is at the center of this.
July 4, 2026, to February 7, 2027
www.zkm.de
