Salon Digital – Verena Friedrich

Verena Friedrich - SORTING THINGS OUT

To sort something out 
1. Fig. to study a problem and figure it out; to find an answer or solution for (something)
2. Lit. to sort something; to separat and arrange something according to certain properties, class, or category. 

Verena Friedrich is an artist and assistant professor at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM). Her time-based installations blend organic, electronic, and sculptural media, and explore the possibilities and limits of technological intervention and control. 

At Salon Digital, she will talk about her research and process of developing and designing artifacts, adressing earlier works (2008–2020) and more recent projects (2020¬–) that take the task of „sorting things out“ either literally or figuratively. 

Since 2020, she has been working on her current project – ERBSENZÄHLER – a system consisting of several stations in which a large quantity of pea seeds are analyzed and sorted. The project explores the increasing quantification of life through mathematical-technical procedures and systems – from counting and sorting to statistics, to computer-aided processes – and the worldview that goes along with it.

Verena’s works have been featured in exhibitions, media art festivals, and conferences around the world. She has received several awards and grants for her projects, including an EMARE grant, a work stipend from Kunstfonds Foundation, and the International Media Award for Science and Art from ZKM Karlsruhe.