Art and Tech, Science Gallery Venice inaugurates CONNECTED - Hello Machine

On January 17th, Ca' Foscari Zattere saw the inauguration of “CONNECTED – Hello Machine”, an itinerant pop-up artwork by Rachel Hanlon, surrounded by a series of workshops on various topics elicited by the exhibition, aimed at both students and researchers. In the near future, Hello Machine will move on to other locations in the area, namely the Ca’ Foscari Scientific Campus in via Torino, the new M9 museum in Mestre, the Querini Stampalia Foundation and the Biennale di Venezia for this year’s edition of the Carnival.

Hanlon, an australian media archeologist, investigates how technology, more specifically the telephone, has affected the human-to-human and human-to-machine interactions and communication, focusing in particular on the topic of incommunicability and on the role of landline and mobile phones in social relationships.
The installation consists of an old fashioned landline telephone, refashioned to record phone calls, which the artist then analyzes. All across the world, Rachel has installed various telephones: by picking up the receiver, you will make another phone ring. If someone picks up the receiver on the opposite end, a virtual space for spontaneous conversation will ensue. Hello Machines are currently active in Victoria in Australia, at the Dublin Science Gallery, in Kyoto, Berlin and Linz. The Venetian installation will remain visible until April 7th, 2019. 

But the dates with Science Gallery Venice do not end here – 2019 will see the first of the three Earth Water Sky residences for artists, the first exhibition and the start of the restoration works in the new headquarters. 

In February, Science Gallery will announce the winner of one of the three residences for Earth Water Sky, an initiative dedicated to environmental research as part of the Art for Global Challenges project. Each year, an open call will be launched to selected an artist who will have the chance to move to venice for two months and work closely with top professors and researchers of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

Towards the end of September, Science Gallery Venice will open its first exhibition “Liquid Networks”. Italian and international artists and researchers, who work on topics related to the exhibition, will have a chance to apply to the call starting from February 2019. “Liquid Networks” will explore the infinite potential and implications of water, as an essential element for the natural, urban and industrial environment, but also, in a broader sense, the nature of all “liquid” connections from a social, anthropological and environmental point of view. 
 
In 2020, after the restoration works are completed, Science Gallery Venice will officially inaugurate its headquarters, in the docking area of San Basilio. 

Visit the Science Gallery Venice website to find out more about all the initiatives