Museion presents TECHNO, the first instalment of TECHNO HUMANITIES, a long-term program involving all spaces, aspects and members of the institution. Assembling themes emerging from confrontations between humanity, ecology, technology and economy, TECHNO comprises an international group show that will occupy the entire Museion building, a public program, a day rave and the TECHNO Reader — an anthology of commissioned critical texts on techno and globalisation.

Articulated through three themes — Freedom, Compression and Exhaustion — the exhibition puts the techno experience center stage, adopting it as a lens through which to capture a contemporary human condition and social order. Museion invites an international group of artists, thinkers and producers to explore how cultural phenomena related to techno have become interlaced with the ways we experience our identities today.

Pairing the mainstreaming of techno in the mid 1980’s with processes geopolitical and economic advancements at the time, TECHNO considers the musical genre outside of its subcultural definition. The on-going pandemic has become a striking metaphor for globalization, while also casting a new light on the multi-billion-dollar industry of techno music, revealing comparable aspects of systemic injustice, exploitation and neglect. TECHNO can be seen as a call to action to break up the status-quo and exposing social change.

Bart van der Heide: “When it comes to subculture, commitment is key. There was no such thing as a part-time Punk. Yet, in the case of techno subculture, one can enter and leave at any moment. Mediated by new technologies, techno music became the soundtrack of liberation and escape. The compressed sonic architecture of the techno club forged meaningful bonds with its community, through collective and interconnected experiences of joy, exhaustion and calculated release. In a way, the techno experience has flawlessly adapted to the demands of the freelance workforce of a post-industrial era.”

Contributing artists: Riccardo Benassi, Paul Chan, Nicolò Degiorgis, Karin Ferrari, Massimo Grimaldi, CC Hennix, Tishan Hsu, Mire Lee, Ghislaine Leung, Isabel Lewis, Piero Martinello in Zusammenarbeit mit/in collaborazione con/in collaboration with Franco Ruaro, Sandra Mujinga, Nkisi aka Melika Ngombe Kolongo, Emeka Ogboh, Yuri Pattison, Daniel Pflumm, James Richards und/e/and Steve Reinke, James Richards, Jacolby Satterwhite, Leander Schwazer, Sung Tieu, Jan Vorisek among many others.

TECHNO is curated by Bart van der Heide, Director of Museion, in collaboration with an international research team including Francesco Tenaglia, art critic and curator, Florian Fischer, stage director and author and Frida Carazzato, curatorial assistant at Museion.

An accompanying audio piece by Florian Fischer and a podcast program by Francesco Tenaglia will be released.

Audio piece by Florian Fischer: RITTORNELL – FreedomCompressionExhaustion, 3 Tracks (Music: Samuel Kerridge. Object: Jonathan Castro).

Exhibition Architecture by Diogo Passarinho Studio, Berlin.

With the support of Pro Helvetia Schweizer Kulturstiftung.

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