In her first solo exhibition in Vienna, renowned artist Hito Steyerl presents critical analyses of the connection between technological development and socio-political conflicts. The show Humanity Had the Bullet Go In Through One Ear and Out Through the Other opens on June 25 at the Museum of Applied Arts.
In her first solo exhibition in Vienna, Hito Steyerl illuminates social processes evoked by the latest technologies with two juxtaposed interdisciplinary works. The multimedia installation Hell Yeah We Fuck Die (2016) is based on words that were used most frequently in the English-language music charts of the 2010s according to Billboard magazine. As an animated typeface, they light up in several places in the installation, which is reminiscent of a military obstacle course. The installation is complemented by two video works that address the possible use of robots in wars. War is also at the center of her second work, the video installation Mechanical Kurds (2025). In it, those affected talk from different perspectives about war and crises in the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Syria and Iraq in connection with AI. For the work, Steyerl also interviewed twelve refugees from Syria who were commissioned by international companies to process military image material for AI models. The exhibition Humanity Had the Bullet Go In Through One Ear and Out Through the Other is on display at the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna from June 25, 2025 to January 11, 2026.
Hito Steyerl (*1966) is known for her multifaceted oeuvre, which moves between reality and fiction and repeatedly deals with militarization and its interconnectedness with civil society. She is one of the most influential artists working today and has received numerous awards, including the Käthe Kollwitz Prize in 2019. The title of her current exhibition, curated by Bärbel Vischer, refers to the Viennese satirist and cultural critic Karl Kraus (1874-1936). The quote comes from his work Nights (1918), a commentary on world politics at the time. Steyerl has been teaching as Professor of Contemporary Digital Media at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich since 2024.
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