LOVPop –
love power peace – the future is now
curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
LOVE – POWER – PEACE – was the key slogan of the younger generation in the 1960s. At that time, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, with its confrontation of opposing ideological blocs, inequality on all levels, and civil rights movements, led to a desire for peace, equality, and fraternity, and especially to a willingness to bring about change in society, both internally and externally, through an overflowing spiritual and physical energy. This was also reflected in the art and musical movements of the time.
How similar the images are today! Today, war in Ukraine, the confrontation between democratic and politically authoritarian blocs, growing inequality between rich and poor, and unstoppable climate change, coupled with the danger of losing all the achievements of the past decades, have led to a desire for peace, equality, sustainability as living perspectives for future generations. But where is the will for change and the necessary spiritual and physical energy?
This was the theme of the open call for the new video art project in collaboration between The New Museum of Networked Art and TAM-Torrance Art Museum Los Angeles (USA) curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne. The project as it will be released online and in physical space draws on the insights gained from the open call.
Los Angeles // March 27 – May 8, 2027
Cologne // May 9 – July 31, 2027
While the 1960s slogan “Love Power Peace” might come across as somewhat old-fashioned—evoking a sense of nostalgia or a return to glorious times—that impression is put into perspective by the subtitle “The Future Is Now.” It clarifies that the LOVPop project, in its quest for authenticity, seeks to capture a snapshot that encompasses both the past and the future.
At the heart of this dynamic project concept lies a question: why—despite seemingly similar external conditions (political, social, economic, and cultural)—is there no equivalent spirit of social awakening today to inspire artistic creation, even though everything cries out for change? (The participating video artists here serve as representatives for other artistic genres as well.) When applied to the present day and the vastly different experiences of the generations currently alive, the 1960s slogan takes on a new yet equally compelling significance—one that reflects the distinct conditions of our time. The curatorial arrangement of the videos mirrors the artists’ anxieties about the world—anxieties that signal impending changes of an uncertain future, unpredictable in both nature and impact—manifesting as a multifaceted sense of bewilderment. As a snapshot, the project answers this central question through its overall composition rather than through the individual artists’ videos. At a different point in time, the answer might well be different, potentially involving artists from other disciplines.
The trajectory of civilizational and technological progress—following a hesitant start tens of thousands of years ago and intermittent peaks and troughs—has gathered momentum over the past century. Above all, since the onset of digitalization around the year 2000, this acceleration has escalated to a point where it appears unstoppable and destined, sooner or later, to lead inevitably to a crash.
The associated (uncritical) belief in progress stands in opposition to the human need for security and existential stability—a need rooted in a conservative impulse. This tension is reflected in art, particularly within technologies linked to the video medium.
As a medium of moving images, video—which effectively traces its origins as an artistic medium back to the advent of photography in the 19th century and the subsequent evolution of film as an art form—only truly established itself as an artistic medium following the 1973 introduction of the VHS system (as earlier formats like Super 8, launched in 1965, still required professional post-production). Yet, the late 1990s introduction of the first digital cameras marked both an abrupt end and a fresh start; this ushered in the era of digital video—now affordable for everyone, eliminating the need for post-production, and becoming a mass phenomenon fueled by viral dissemination via the rapidly evolving landscape of social media.
Modern AI applications serve not merely as tools to enhance production and operational processes; rather, their misuse by authoritarian ideologies and criminal actors enables systematic manipulation through the wholesale distortion of reality and/or the total degradation of the individual through the abandonment of their humanity. When artists adopt these tools uncritically, they render themselves obsolete at the push of a button.
If the German performance artist Joseph Beuys had already declared the end of art in the 1960s—arguing that everyone is an artist and any object can be designated as art, thereby rendering art and artists superfluous due to their arbitrary nature—then today’s AI applications take this logic a decisive step further: the artists abandon the necessity of their own existence as a creative being, effectively rendering themselves obsolete through a voluntary act triggered by the push of a button. Culture as a romantic or romanticizing reminiscence—the scrap of an obsolete civilization that has perished or is perishing—nothing more than nostalgia?
The LOVPop project—which challenges established perspectives in their entirety—operates within this tension, not least because the interactive option available to the viewer—to experience the project, which unfolds over several weeks, in a sensory way—allows them to become a curator themselves, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Has the curator, then, become superfluous? Certainly not (yet), for without the diversity of concepts contributed by the participating curators and artists, the viewer would never have this opportunity in the first place.
Comprising several curatorial components, the audiovisual LOVPop project consists of a body of diverse compositions (four programs featuring videos international artists, curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne) as well as several satellite projects; while varying in the degree to which their content aligns with the LOVPop concept, these projects derive their true significance through their interaction with one another:
1. Curatorial contributions by Alex Karantanas (ADAF – Athens Digital Art Festival),
2. The project “The Situationalists” (Marcantonio Lunardi, Shahar Marcus, Henry Gwiazda),
3. The solo feature “La Prima Ballerina – Francesca Fini – the AI Challenge in Video Art,” and
4. The sound art project “LOVPOP – The Sound of Future”—which engages other sensory perceptions—presented as an interactive installation that connects the primary venues of Los Angeles and Cologne via the Internet for everyone, including those living elsewhere.
ENTER The LovPop Project
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