Auriea Harvey’s Black Ship (2024), commissioned by KADIST, encompasses a sculptural black ship, a large-scale printed mural, and an augmented reality component that activates the piece in the exhibition space. Originating from early interactions with AI image generators before restrictions were imposed around the word ‘slave’, the project began, in Harvey’s words, through “talking with an inhuman system about something inhumane.” The resulting conceptual prototypes, merging the Black body with a transatlantic slave ship, were reclaimed and reimagined as a vessel of maternal presence and mutiny, and a ship that cannot sail. First developed for Apophenia Interruptions, a collaboration between KADIST and Centre Pompidou, Paris, the work exists in both physical and digital form, inviting viewers to encounter its layered meanings through multiple modes of engagement.

Auriea Harvey (b. 1971) creates simulations and sculptures that traverse the physical and digital realms. Having probed the depths of net art and video games, her current work directs its attention towards digital sculpture, 3D printing, and mixed reality. As half of the artist duo which over time has been known as Entropy8 Zuper!/Tale of Tales/Song of Songs, Harvey is known for pioneering works in Internet Art, video games, and XR. Based in Rome, she is a Professor of Games at Kunsthochschule Kassel. She was part of the curated Christie’s auction PROOF OF SOVEREIGNTY in 2021 and her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US; SFMOMA, San Francisco, US; and Rhizome’s Net Art Anthology. Harvey’s video games and VR works have been shown internationally including at Tinguely Museum, Basel, Switzerland; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; the New Museum, New York, US; and ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany. She is the recipient of a Creative Capital grant and a winner of the Independent Games Festival Nuovo Award. She is represented by bitforms gallery, NYC.