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Poetics of Encryption: Art and the Technocene
A critical appraisal of art’s entanglement in technological encryption “We are all inside this thing―but how?” This book explores 21st-century art’s reckonings with the technosphere. Outlining the concept of encryption that underlies this infrastructural condition, Samman explores motifs of confinement, capture and burial, as well as access and exclusion from secured domains. Poetics of Encryption excavates the art of our times in relation to these motifs, as it quests through caves, cables, codes, satellites and icons. Toggling between enlightened concern and occult dreaming, it surveys a counterintuitive aesthetic of the interface.
Nadim Samman (born 1980) is Curator for the Digital Sphere at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. In 2019 he was First Prize recipient of the International Award for Art Criticism (IAAC). Major curatorial projects included the 4th Marrakech Biennale (2012), the 5th Moscow Biennale for Young Art (2015) and the 1st Antarctic Biennale (2017).
Nadim Samman (born 1980) is Curator for the Digital Sphere at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. In 2019 he was First Prize recipient of the International Award for Art Criticism (IAAC). Major curatorial projects included the 4th Marrakech Biennale (2012), the 5th Moscow Biennale for Young Art (2015) and the 1st Antarctic Biennale (2017).
- GenresArt
159 pages, Paperback
Published July 4, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 10, 2026
Art is cyborg
March 3, 2024
It's poetically written and rigorous. I really enjoyed the connection of contemporary art that tackles networked society and tech to the occult and theologist interpretation (well, black box, black sites, black holes). However, I found some projections of the artwork might be a little too far-fetched, especially in the context of theory.
April 25, 2026
brilliant data-base for critical thinking and aesthetic literacy in the technological age (rage)
„Living with a ‚known unknown‘ is still being-with, after all.
A poetics of encryption strives to make the inaccessible virtually present, while running on an old system. Although "analogue" media are of a different order to the digital, possibly suggesting their unsuitability for the critical task at hand, art has long addressed the unknown, and things that belong to other worlds. A tradition of apophatic theology (and irony) stands as a powerful training schema for postures taken in relation to a landscape of black boxes. No matter how secure the encrypted space, an approach may be ventured along the via negativa: by speaking about the impossible challenge of calling it by its true name; picturing travesty instead of perfection; and, most importantly, supplying an abundance of images for embodied relations to the obscure interior.
The via negativa characterizes much contemporary art. Its uptake indicates faith on the part of artists, holding on to a human picture, irreducible to some data set, within surveillance capitalism's dispiriting landscape. It is an analogue culture of the digital, diametrically opposed to digital analogues of culture (such as novels written by Al).
This art thinks in ana-logic — the only free translation system for those who do not write code. It speaks through analogy — the people's tongue. As such, it expresses an ideology of freely distributed intellectual and linguistic competence, in a world otherwise marked by viciously unequal access to information.“
„Living with a ‚known unknown‘ is still being-with, after all.
A poetics of encryption strives to make the inaccessible virtually present, while running on an old system. Although "analogue" media are of a different order to the digital, possibly suggesting their unsuitability for the critical task at hand, art has long addressed the unknown, and things that belong to other worlds. A tradition of apophatic theology (and irony) stands as a powerful training schema for postures taken in relation to a landscape of black boxes. No matter how secure the encrypted space, an approach may be ventured along the via negativa: by speaking about the impossible challenge of calling it by its true name; picturing travesty instead of perfection; and, most importantly, supplying an abundance of images for embodied relations to the obscure interior.
The via negativa characterizes much contemporary art. Its uptake indicates faith on the part of artists, holding on to a human picture, irreducible to some data set, within surveillance capitalism's dispiriting landscape. It is an analogue culture of the digital, diametrically opposed to digital analogues of culture (such as novels written by Al).
This art thinks in ana-logic — the only free translation system for those who do not write code. It speaks through analogy — the people's tongue. As such, it expresses an ideology of freely distributed intellectual and linguistic competence, in a world otherwise marked by viciously unequal access to information.“
July 16, 2025
WOW!!! This book was loaded with tons of really fascinating information. I thoroughly enjoyed this, although I did find it pretty dense and will have to revisit aspects of it.
One of the most well thought out notable take away points was the duality of transparency and opaqueness in contemporary society, specifically use of it in architecture. I will be constantly navigating the world wondering why buildings are transparent and which ones aren’t, how that formal presentation are both agents of keeping people “locked out” of systems.
This would be a great book for a critical theory in the arts class. I do wish that some of the terms were introduced more slowly and with greater care. I think I would be able to put logical arguments and thoughts together more clearly if it was done so.
One of the most well thought out notable take away points was the duality of transparency and opaqueness in contemporary society, specifically use of it in architecture. I will be constantly navigating the world wondering why buildings are transparent and which ones aren’t, how that formal presentation are both agents of keeping people “locked out” of systems.
This would be a great book for a critical theory in the arts class. I do wish that some of the terms were introduced more slowly and with greater care. I think I would be able to put logical arguments and thoughts together more clearly if it was done so.
November 6, 2023
A pertinent, masterfully written & researched read for anyone interested in the ways in which contemporary artists are helping to expose the dark sides of our technological landscape.
April 12, 2026
I dont wanna want to be too mean because art is art and its admirable people are still trying, but it feels like one big mess with compulsive reference to hyperintellectual culture for no good reason
July 3, 2025
Non credo di aver compreso fino in fondo tutto quanto viene esposto in questo saggio, ma solo per mia mancanza di alcune conoscenze tecniche.
Il libro è davvero ben fatto e organizzato e pur essendo un saggio, la prosa è notevole e coinvolgente.
Nadim Samman esplora opere d’arte che mettono in luce le dimensioni nascoste del nostro panorama tecnologico, che affrontano luoghi oscuri, scatole nere e buchi neri, oscillando tra preoccupazione illuminata e sogno occulto.
Interessante.
Il libro è davvero ben fatto e organizzato e pur essendo un saggio, la prosa è notevole e coinvolgente.
Nadim Samman esplora opere d’arte che mettono in luce le dimensioni nascoste del nostro panorama tecnologico, che affrontano luoghi oscuri, scatole nere e buchi neri, oscillando tra preoccupazione illuminata e sogno occulto.
Interessante.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews