"Embodied Cognition" by Mónica Rikić at the Tomàs Balvey Museum-Archive

The Tomàs Balvey Museum-Archive opens on June 30 at 7 p.m. the Cognition incarnate exhibition by Mónica Rikić. The exhibition is curated by Mercè Alsina and Enric Mauri.

Mónica Rikić wonders about the nature of cognitive systems and whether they can become the other before whom we look at ourselves, measure ourselves, know ourselves. The other would cease to be a being of our species, to be an artifact generated by ourselves. Many questions arise, how does it think, what are the limits of this intelligence, if it can be emotional, or if it can have consciousness or human values.

Through her work, Mónica Rikić emphasizes precisely the need to face the deep transformation that is taking place in the world as we have known it until now and to consider what and how they are, or could be, the relationships between humans and machines. The artist uses the experimental space of art to propose a space where this discipline collaborates with technology and philosophy to make this leap into a world that is not only human but is beginning to be populated by technologies cognitive problems that cause us anxiety and question the limits of our species' intelligence.

The pieces Replica, Evolution and Revolution stage some of these aspects or cognitive processes. These works could recently be seen at La Capella, Barcelona, as part of the Hipertélia exhibition, and were produced thanks to a BCNProducció 22/23 grant from ICUB and a CREA grant from Barcelona City Council.

Mónica Rikić (Barcelona, 1986), is an electronic artist and programmer. Catalonia National Culture Award 2021. He has works in the NewArt {;} and DKV collections. He has participated in festivals such as Ars electronica in Linz, Creative Tech Week in New York, Robotronica in Australia or FILE in Brazil. He has exhibited at centers such as CCCB, Artes Santa Mónica, La Capella or Disseny Hub. He has received awards at the Japan Media Arts Festival, AMAZE Berlin, the Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition in Atlanta, among others and has participated in various artistic and technological residencies and the European program ARTificial Intelligence Lab. Degree in Fine Arts (UB). Master in Digital Arts (UPF). Master in Contemporary Philosophy (UOC). Doctoral student of the Information and Network Technologies doctoral program (UOC).