Period (opening hours):Monday - Sunday 10:00-23:00
Venue:Fotografiska Berlin
Oranienburgerstraße 54
10117 Berlin
Who makes sure that AI works - and what traces does this work leave on those affected? Anna Ehrenstein explores this question in The Language of the Soil.
The project was developed in close collaboration with the researcher Ariana Dongus and the activists and worker-researchers Richard Mathenge, Mophat Okinyi and Fasica Berhane, who themselves worked as digital platform workers and connected Ehrenstein with other workers and participants on site.
The multi-sensory exhibition makes it possible to experience how (post-)colonial continuities, global economies and the invisible labour behind algorithms interact. At the centre are people who train Large Language Models in Nairobi or work as copywriters for OnlyFans in Cairo.
"My work understands artistic research as collective knowledge production. The Language of the Soil is not about individual cognition or 'artificial' intelligence, but about shared intelligence - about knowledge that is formed between people, technologies and stories, like a light that reaches many eyes."
- Anna Ehrenstein
In Ehrenstein's work, soil stands for the origin and traces of labour that often remain invisible. It embodies the material foundations on which digital economies are built. At the same time, it points to the persistence of historical hierarchies and relations of exploitation that continue to operate in today's global labour and data economies. The ground functions as a symbol for the interweaving of man, nature and technology and forms the starting point for artistic reflection and collective fiction.
You are invited to trace the conditions of this form of digital labour, to recognise the traces of human work and to reflect on your own role in it.
At the same time, the exhibition raises questions about solidarity, agency and resistance in an increasingly automated world.
The Language of the Soil was developed together with the scientists Ariana Dongus, Richard Mathenge, Mophat Okinyi and Fasica Berhane and was made possible in part with the support of Fotografiska Berlin. With contributions from Ibrahim Ahmed (artist), Dalton Odiyo (designer) and Zana Hoxha (weaver).
The exhibition was curated by Thomas Schäfer, Director of Exhibitions at Fotografiska Berlin, in collaboration with the artist. More information...
