Prater Digital Program Art and Sustainability

Mar. 4, 2024

Prater Galerie is launching its interdisciplinary annual program, ‘Copy Paste Waste,’ taking place online via Prater Digital, an independent section of the gallery since 2020. The ‘Copy Paste Waste’ art and research project—curated by Tereza Havlíková and Katharina von Hagenow—aims to draw attention to the overproduction of digital data and to develop models for mindful digital action. In addition to political and structural solutions, participants are seeking the potential of individual and institutional users to take action.

Tackling the unseen material environmental impact of digitalization, the program reflects on a series of questions about the need for a transparent data infrastructure that is as decarbonised as possible, a reality that has yet to be fully considered. Creating sustainable digital spaces and facing the challenge of the long-term preservation of digital goods and their resources is a primary concern of the ‘Copy Paste Waste’ program this year, which asks us to consider the effects of digital infrastructure on humans and the climate.

The first module of the program, presented between March 7th to May 16th, will consist of a series of talks by five experts in digital sustainability, in order to outline the multi-layered dimensions of the topic, before inviting artists and cultural workers to delve deeper into their research this autumn. The online talks—conducted by invited experts Rainer Rehak (researcher and co-initiator of the Bits&Bäume network), Michael Voit (Cleaner Web), Maya Richman (Green Screen Coalition), Valerie Wollinger and Christos Varvantantakis (Wikimedia Deutschland), and Joana Moll (artist and researcher, janavirgin.com) and moderated by Katrin Fritsch—will facilitate discussions around the environmental impact of digital applications, the interdependence with political and social problems, the sustainable use of knowledge and much more.

Acknowledging that digital sustainability goes beyond individual action and is, rather, a political and systemic problem, the curators ask what we, as private users and cultural institutions, can actually do? The second module, taking place between May and September, will involve internal workshops and network meetings for cultural actors and institutions. During the pandemic, many cultural institutions had to develop and adopt digital formats almost overnight. While there are protocols and guidelines for sustainable action for the physical cultural sector, these have been largely bypassed in the digital sphere. In this section of the program, cultural actors will come together to reflect on digital work and production processes. As a result of these network meetings, a collaborative and public wiki will be created to make the methods developed available to a broader community.

Finally, the third module, running from October until the end of the year, will involve a digital exhibition and online studio visits. Under the theme ‘Digital Upcyling – An Artistic Experiment,’ an artist exchange will be launched in the form of six digital studio visits. Taking the sustainable practice of “upcycling” from the physical world and applying it to the digital realm, participants will test the idea of upcycling as a speculative and artistic method in relation to digital resources. The studio visits will offer insights into the artists’ practices, as they share their screens—uncovering disused files, tabs and programs and introducing their relevance. Artists will be paired up to exchange old data or fragments in “art swaps” and create new works in response, which will then be presented in an online exhibition.

As an annual program, ‘Copy Paste Waste’ aims to raise awareness about the importance of using digital data consciously. This year’s iteration will engage the local artistic and cultural community in a variety of formats, in order to push a more viable consideration of how art and research are intertwined with digital practices.