Gulia Bowinkel & Friedemann Banz: Serendipity_The Exponential Entrepreneur

HMKV Video of the Month

On view 1 – 28 February 2017

Serendipity_The Exponential Entrepreneur is a video about exponential growth as a figure of thought. For this video, Giulia Bowinkel & Friedemann Banz have compiled video clips from lectures on exponential growth a.o. from the Singularity University. Singularity University is a think tank in the Silicon Valley that was founded in 2009 by Google, Nokia and Autodesk. It is based on Ray Kurzweil’s idea of the “technological singularity”. This is the hypothesis that the invention of artificial superintelligence will abruptly trigger runaway technological growth, causing an intelligence explosion and resulting in a powerful superintelligence that would, qualitatively, far surpass all human intelligence thus resulting in unfathomable changes to human civilization.

An “exponential entrepreneur” - as described in the video by one of the professors – is “an entrepreneur who is leaning on exponentially accelerating technology - networked sensors, AI, robotics, synthetic biology, 3D printing – these technologies that are all on exponential growth curves.” However, the goal of this entrepreneurship equipped with serendipity is not simply the improvement of the world, but, one suspects, the exponential growth of the markets: “Three billion new minds online - what happens? ... a brand new generation of consumers.” The 15,000 new strategic ideas born out of these three billion new minds will also serve this goal.

Giulia Bowinkel
*1983 in Düsseldorf, studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (from 2002, 2003-2005 with Prof. Gerhard Merz, 2005-2008 with Prof. Albert Oehlen), graduation in 2008.

Friedemann Banz
*1980  in Mainz, studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (from 2001, 2002-2007 with Prof. Albert Oehlen), graduation in 2007.

Scholarships/Awards: 2014 Artist Residency Herzliya; 2011 Bronner Residency, Kunststiftung NRW, Tel Aviv.

Exhibitions (selection): 2016 DAM: TEMPORARY, DAM Gallery, Berlin; Virtual Body, NRW-Forum Düsseldorf; 2015 WTi 2.0, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; 2014 Media Art Award, Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten, Marl; 2013 Metafurnish, Bruch & Dallas, Köln.

In the series HMKV Video of the Month, HMKV presents current video works by international artists for the duration of one month each – selected by Inke Arns.

Giulia Bowinkel & Friedemann Banz
Serendipity_The Exponential Entrepreneur
Video, 2015, 13:17 Min.

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