Performing the System:
Operator on st_age
April 11, 2024
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Operator (Artist Duo, 2023)
Upcoming
Programming
MNTB Madrid

We embarked on the creation of this artistic documentary to challenge the entrenched dualities of digital worlds and confront the societal implications of technology's current trajectory. Exploring the dynamic practice of the artistic duo Operator (Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti), this episode of TBA21 on st_age aims to illuminate the intersections of art, technology, and societal discourse. By showcasing their diverse body of work, ranging from experiential installations to thought-provoking performances, it seeks to elicit a critical reflection on the role of technology in shaping our collective future. 

At the core of this exploration and the documentary co-produced for st_age is Operator's project, Soft Evidence, a slow synthetic cinema series that challenges traditional ideas of truth and reality, presenting viewers with immersive vignettes of synthetic media. The documentary draws us in with intimate interviews and compelling visuals, exploring love as the central force behind art creation and addressing themes such as the invisibility of technology, the instability of reality, and the transformative potential of art in the digital era.

By navigating themes of plausible deniability and the violent potential for sexual violence enabled by deep fakes, Operator on st_age invites viewers to confront the ethical complexities of our increasingly digitized world. This commission, showcasing Operator's innovative approach and artistic practice, aims to inspire viewers to rethink their relationship with technology and envision a world where creativity, empathy, and innovation converge to shape a more inclusive and equitable society. 

The film premieres in the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum as part of the public programming of Organismo | Art in Applied Critical Ecologies
PREMIERE
Physical Premiere: 
Auditorium, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
April 11, 2024, 6:30 pm 
EN language, ES subtitles

Online Premiere:
TBA21 on st_age
May 8, 2024
 
TICKETS
Free entry activities.

 
ABOUT OPERATOR
Ania Catherine (b. 1990, USA) and Dejha Ti (b, 1985, USA) are an award-winning experiential artist duo who founded their collaborative practice, Operator, in 2016.  The duo has been called "the two critical contemporary voices on digital art's international stages" by Clot Magazine, with their expertises colliding in large-scale conceptual works recognizable for their signature nuanced integration of technology. Ti’s background as an immersive artist and human-computer interaction technologist, and Catherine’s as a choreographer and performance artist make for a uniquely medium non-allegiant output, bringing together environments, technology and the body. Their exploration into privacy and extractive technologies began with their installation, On View (2019), and continues with the Privacy Collection, a durational release of works exploring the tension between privacy and transparency in blockchain technology. For their most recent work, Human Unreadable, the artists developed an on-chain generative choreography method. Operator has been awarded two Lumen Prizes (Generative Art in 2023, Immersive Environments in 2021), ADC Gold Cube, S+T+ARTS Prize (Honorary Mention), and MediaFutures (EU Commission program). They’ve spoken and appeared in BBC Click, Bloomberg ART+TECHNOLOGY, Christie’s Art+Tech Summit, SCAD Museum of Art, Art Basel, MIT Open Doc Lab, HEK, University of Cambridge, Ars Electronica, ZKM, Universität für Angewandte Kunst (Vienna), Francisco Carolinum Museum. In MoMA’s 2023 Postcard Project, Operator was included as one of the first 15 artists to launch the project to the public. The duo are originally from LA and currently based in Madrid.
 
ABOUT ORGANISMO
TBA21–Academy and Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza present Organismo | Art in Applied Critical Ecologies, an independent study program connecting research, theory, and speculation with specific cases of regenerative interventions that take place through different forms of alliance. The project began with the aim of exploring new methodologies and configurations of actors in processes of ecological transformation. Its foundational hypothesis is that the work of artists leading interdisciplinary projects have great potential to contribute to a cultural paradigm shift that results in new ways of inhabiting the planet that embrace complexity and are inclusive.

Operator participates in the first edition of Organismo as the pulse of one its six case studies, Immersive Narratives, in close association with one the program’s research line, Ecologies of Technologies. The pulse is the artistic or creative agent that proposes the guidelines of the case study: the voice that sets the pulse of the process.
 
CREDITS
Operator on st_age: 
Performing the System

Produced by Walden Studio
Commissioned and co-produced by TBA21 for st_age

Operator
Ania Catherine, Dejha Ti
and Claude

Director and DoP: Pedro Bringas
Concept: Michal Kučerák, TBA21 
Script: Pedro Bringas
Editor: Aitor Saavedra
2nd Cameraman: Luis García 
Camera Assistant: Alberto Rodrigo
Producer: Olivia Cabello
Production Assistant: Elena Nieto
Gaffer: Julia Carballada
Sound Technicians: Daniel Bravo and David Rodríguez
Production Manager: Nina Šperanda, TBA21
Curatorial Assistant: Jon Aranguren Juaristi, TBA21
Executive Producer: Petra Linhartová, TBA21

Special thanks
Teatro Albeníz
Navarro Valero family