Bridging digital realities between the moon and any city

At the virtual exhibition ‘Smarter Digital Realities’ artists use varied media to depict digital change and its impact on urban life

Smarter Digital Realities is a project by Bengaluru-based Sandbox Collective in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan. Curated by Padmini Ray Murray, it is a virtual exhibition where over 21 artists have depicted their vision of the impact of technology on cities, through music, dance, storytelling, film and other media.

According to the curator, the exhibition is centred around people’s relationship with a city as mediated through technology. “Technology has had a tremendous impact on our working lives, our relationships, socio-economic realities, politics and so on. For this exhibition, we wanted to have a variety of artists who would respond to the topic in different ways.”

Padmini says it was a conscious decision not to restrict entries to those involved in new media or digital art. “We wanted people — from any practice or space — to express their relationship with technology or their perception of a relationship with technology, through their own artistic practice. As a result, the entries for the show have been created by lawyers, filmmakers, dancers, illustrators and others. Many of the participants are not artists by profession; the exhibition was basically an opportunity for them to create an artistic response.”