Work It Out!

“If you were bound to live an infinite number of lives, what experiences do you want to create and bring with you?”

Humanness: Inner Studies in a Collective Cloud is an interactive artwork continuing the Collected Memory series. This artwork focuses on questions of identity, the workplace, and our role in the digital era. It is part of the exhibition Work It Out! at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg.

Work It Out! was the winner of the Bikubens Vision Award 2018. The exhibition explores the future of modern work-life and how art can contribute to new and improved ways of thinking and working.

“Humans are algorithms, and algorithms can be rewritten”

In her work Humanness: Inner Studies in a Collective Cloud, Mille Kalsmose addresses the individual who, now more than ever, exists in an interconnected state of relations. At Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Kalsmose’s installation creates a space for deceleration, allowing participants to center their attention and reflect on their lives. The installation serves as a hub where new and old journeys, internal and external, intersect and connect people and diverse institutions. The work is part of the extensive group exhibition Work It Out!, focusing on the future of work life and how art can challenge existing cultural structures.

I believe that we, as humans, are made of a particular set of data, consisting of particles, that are constantly in flux. If this is correct, then we are living algorithms, and algorithms can be rewritten. Because I wasn’t brought into this world with the algorithm of my dreams, I try to find the way to optimize and rewrite myself, so I can become a program that inspires other programs to find their dream algorithm. - Mille Kalsmose.

Set on a visually striking stage, Humanness: Inner Studies in a Collective Cloud explores, through archives both physical and digital, how we live in the dual existence of these worlds. Participants are the driving force in creating meaning and significance within the artwork. They write their intentions on one of the thousands of individually folded papers in the archive or participate from anywhere in the world via an online link. These statements flow through screens at the site and are permanently stored in the digital archive of collectedmemory.world, a global platform amplifying individual voices.