Which activities remain invisible, even though they form the foundation of our everyday life, our infrastructures, and digital systems?

Post-digital describes a present in which digital technologies are no longer perceived as new but have become a self-evident part of working life—both as a continuation of industrial and capitalist logics and through new, often invisible and boundaryless forms of labour. The exhibition was developed within the Digital Media and Experiment program at the Faculty of Design and Art, Hochschule Bielefeld (HSBI). It presents artistic positions by interdisciplinary students, exploring transformations of a globalized, techno-capitalist world of work.

The narratives range from speculative scenarios of AI-driven corporations and collapsing ecological systems to intimate reflections on digital love, isolation, and algorithmic control. They expose hidden infrastructures of labour—from in-game gold farming and the commodification of pets to the emotional work embedded in human–AI relationships—demonstrating how technology reshapes human relations and value systems. In doing so, the works offer a critical perspective on how post-digital labour permeates everyday life, oscillating between exploitation, simulation, and fragile forms of connection.

With the kind support of the LWL Industrial Museum Ziegelei Lage

Galerieraum HSBI Satellit
Wilhelmstraße 3,
33602 Bielefeld

7 October – 11 November 2025
Monday – Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm
Free Entry

Die Initiatorin, Kuratorin und Seminarleiterin Prof. Claudia Rohrmoser und der Kurator und Seminarleiter Marcus Wildelau, beide Fachrichtung Digital Media and Experiment (DMX) des Fachbereichs Gestaltung an der Hochschule Bielefeld, erläutern Motive, Positionen und Prozesse anhand ausgewählter Werke der überwiegend aus Filmbeiträgen bestehenden Ausstellung, die vom 13.06. – 30.09.2025 im LWL-Museum, Ziegelei, in Lage gezeigt werden.

Three central group photographs of the filmmakers form the visual core of the exhibition. These are reenactments of iconic works from art and photography history that symbolically represent different segments of today's labor market.

The first tableau shows thirteen protagonists from the realm of "White Collar Work," gathered for a final meeting. They represent knowledge and administrative work—activities that are particularly affected by digital efficiency enhancement and automation. The films address overwhelm, boundary dissolution, burnout, anxieties about the future, and feelings of replaceability in the face of self-learning machines.

The second image quotes the famous "Lunch atop a Skyscraper" and shows eight VR workers during lunch break—a symbol for "Blue Collar Work" in the digital age. Here too, physical labor is increasingly transformed through automation, virtualization, and datafication. One film addresses Voice Extraction—the theft of a human voice, its digital reproduction and use by AI in an unequal, potentially criminal competition for authenticity and control. Another cinematic theme is the continuation of capitalist valorization logic in the realm of gaming: Playbourers—people who voluntarily mine gold or manage digital farms in simulations during their free time—blur the boundaries between play, work, and economic exploitation.

The third tableau is dedicated to the theme of Pink Collar Work—those invisible professions operating at the margins of the labor market: care work, unpaid internships, entertainment, educational and emotional services, often performed by women, often inadequately recognized. The concept of work itself is critically negotiated here: Who or what counts as working? Humans, animals, plants—they are all functionalized in the neoliberal system without their contribution being made visible or fairly compensated.

Finally, the diffuse figure of so-called artificial intelligence haunts everything, raising a fundamental question: What remains of humans as working, creative, and feeling beings in an increasingly automated world?

The exhibition offers a kaleidoscopic panorama of images, facts, metaphors, and stories. It makes visible the invisible, overlooked, yet essential aspects of Post-Digital Work—thereby challenging us to adopt a new perspective on value, work, and the future.