"Technologies of Relation"

These are three photographs from a large exhibition with work from 12 artists. From the catalog:  "Technologies of Relation" examines how we relate to each other, to the world around us and to the technologies that often mediate those relationships.  The artists in the exhibition embrace how technology can connect us, but also acknowledge how it harms us."  There is a lot more text about these exhibits but I didn't understand much of it.  So here is the crazy thing - they have booklets available to take, with detailed informaton and photographs, about all the different exhibitions on display.  I have the booklet for this exhibition, but I neglected to photograph the text on the wall for this particular part of the exhibition.  I have read the book and searched the Mass MoCA website and there is no mention at all, that I can find of what is going on in this room with pink light!  But it was so interesting to feel the mood created by these objects and the pink light.  I will leave it up to you to see what you think this might be about.

So this is a kitchen and was created by five artists and is titled "One Who Looks at the Cup" and harkens back to family traditions of the art of tasseography, a predictive technology that interprets patterns and symbols in coffee grounds at the bottom of a cup.  The box on the table, which was not working, unfortunately, would normally produce a cup of coffee and leave you with grounds which the device reads after using AI on which it was trained on transcripts and images from coffee readings from the past.  The fabrics are traditional Armenian designs.  It was, in some way, a beautiful room that seemed so cheery and was nice to be in.

This is only part of an exhibit that shows a film "Speculations on Capture" about the pioneering technological advancements made in the 1200's in Iran, while mourning the acquisition of instruments by Western museums.  The artist speaks of storage rooms where astrolabes, celestial globes, ephemeris and talismanic bowls from Persia and Pakistan, are "held captive" having been separated from the peoples who created them.  I did not see the film but I was taken by this "architectural sculpture" which is inspired by the Maragha Observatory, a site of significant scientific discovery in the Islamic world and beyond, founded in 1259 in Northwest Iran.  This also functions as seating for those who want to watch the film.