Artificial intelligence has long been interwoven with human life. With her poetic and atmospheric short films, Synnøve Sizou G. Wetten explores some of the existential questions that arise when the boundaries between biology and technology are blurred. What happens to the experience of the 'I'? What happens to the experience of time? And where exactly is the distinction between consciousness and artificial intelligence?

In the exhibition, four films by Wetten are shown as spatial installations. Together, they function as poetic speculations about future human beings seen from a feminist and post humanist perspective. The sound scape in Wetten's films plays a decisive role in a sphere of subtle mimicry and dialogue. So does the direction the figures' gaze takes, and the occasionally choreographed hand movements. The undefined and ambiguous nature of their appearances helps to emphasise a kind of dissolution of different categories: human and machine, gender, of 'then' and 'now', and of different forms of reality. Wetten uses the Sci-fi sphere to explore how we as humans define what 'reality' is. Could it be that we are in a simulated reality? And what political measures can we activate to make changes to the 'reality' we find ourselves in? Wetten's sci-fi universe differs from what we are familiar with from film history. No future dystopia is drawn here. The machines are not seen as enemies, or in opposition to man. Rather, it is the potential of human intimacy in the face of artificial intelligence that is explored. Human skin permeates the films rather than metal. The characters are sentient creatures and active political actors who use proximity, touch, care, solidarity and empathy as radical tools.

This type of tool is perhaps most evident in the main work in the exhibition: a brand new film that takes the form of a feminist science fiction. We follow a group of people from the future as they prepare for a political movement through various ritual gestures; belonging, transformation and unity are activated by physical touch. Three earlier films that are part of the same universe will also be screened. IN IS THIS NOW? XXYX from 2019, a group of characters investigate a form of augmented reality. In artificial and isolated climates, choreographed hand movements - such as touching skin, air and glass surfaces - suggest an activation of the environment and of a form of invisible technology. Flashes of light, combined with an atmospheric soundscape filled with questioning voices of uncertain origin, help to emphasise the technological presence and augmented reality. Splinter Trip from 2018 dwells on a contemplative journey in which two young boys sit in the back of a car. The appearance of the characters and the situation they are in opens up various associations and questions: Where do they come from? Where are they going? Could they be androids? The mood suggests a subtle erotic undertone, before a quick shift into a digital world of colour and fictional visual algorithms suggests an inner technological conversation between the two characters. Is this Now? ki o id ai ))) from 2019 has expressive similarities with the ending of Splinter Trip, and appears as a conversation between a human and an artificial intelligence in text form. It explores themes related to identity, gender, sexuality, perception of time and virtual perspectives.

Synnøve Sizou G. Wetten is a visual artist living and working in Oslo. She studied at the Malmö Academy of Fine Arts (2009 MFA) and the Akademie fur Bildende Kunst in Vienna (2007-2008). Her practice consists primarily of experimental short films, sound composition and script development. Her work has been shown at the Sydney Biennale, Museum of Contemporary Art, Kunsthall Oslo, Kunstnernes Hus, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, UKS, Ystad Konstmuseum, Stavanger Kunsthall, Human Resources- Los Angeles, Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Performative City Excavation Program, Akershus Kunstsenter, Haugar Kunstmuseum and Public Art Screens/ I/o/lab - Centre for Contemporary Art. In 2019, she was awarded the Photo Art Prize for the film IS THIS NOW? XXYX, which will also be shown as part of the opening exhibition at the new National Museum.