Insane in the Membrane

The membrane describes a separating layer, with its etymological origin coming from the latin word membrana. Our skin serves the purpose of being a physical boundary separating what is inside from what is on the outside, for protection against environmental impacts, a means of representation and communication. In this function, our face is the most distinct indicator of our emotional state and representation. Human contact and communication originates in the interactions between skin, in touch.

In „Im Schwarm. Ansichten des Digitalen“, the philosopher Byung-Chul Han identifies a paradigm shift in our communication structure and in our sense of awareness, evoked by digitalisation. Resulting from this, is the flattening of substance, an increased narcissism and the dissolution of the counterpart. “The digital medium deprives communication of tactility and physicality.”1

How is this alleged loss of the tactile perceived by artists? How do they handle forms of sensitivity, cover and skin? In Insane in the Membrane, eight European artists born between the beginning of the 1980s to the beginning of 1990s are exhibiting their works, forming the first generation of so called “digital natives”.

1 Han, Byung-Chul, Im Schwarm. Ansichten des Digitalen, Berlin 2017, S.34.