I had to go to prison to find out I had been living in one all along. The group exhibition Hacking Habitat has found a wonderfully apt location on Wolvenplein square in Utrecht.

Feb 26 – Jun 6 | “Discover how systems are holding us hostage. High-tech systems are taking increasing control of our lives. Security cameras monitor our moves, Google steers what we do online with incomprehensible algorithms and we are having a collective love affair with our smart phones.”


With almost every cell dedicated to a different artist there is quite a lot of information to take in. Every piece takes a different angle on the topic and every presentation needs to be conquered before it is fully understood. Even if it takes time, there is a wealth of views and information in this group exhibition.

visual and documentative

The exhibition meanders between the very visual work of Daniel Keller and the information overload of Susan Hiller, Stefanos Tsivopoulos and Buro Jansen & Janssen.

informative and instigative

Some of the work is quietly objectional, other work has a more emotionally dramatic approach. Some artists take an activist stance and try to make the visitor part of the solution to the problems at hand.

“The good news is: we’re taking control back into our own hands.”

“Socially engaged and critical, but also humorous and optimistic. More than eighty internationally acclaimed artists show us the power of high-tech networks as well as how we can fight back. How do we win our world back from institutions and systems? How do we find the right balance between technology and humanity?”

In short: how do we hack our habitat?

intimate and overwhelming

The exhibition route takes the visitor from the entrance hall featuring several interactive installations, through the cells complex on the ground floor and in the basement, out to the sports yard towards the larger feature halls with installations by Fernando Sánchez Castillo and William Kentridge.

Full gallery

Visual or documentative, informative or activist, small or large, and everything in between. The Hacking Habitat exhibition offers something for everybody, just make sure you take the time to find your favorites. Until june 6, 2016.

what | Hacking Habitat
who | Alfredo Jaar | Buro Jansen & Janssen | Claire Fontaine | Daniel Keller | Eduardo Basualdo | Fernando Sánchez Castillo | James Beckett | Jeroen Jongeleen | Lawrence Abu Hamdan | Paul Alberts | Renée Ridgway | Stanza | Stefanos Tsivopoulos | Susan Hiller | Timo Arnall | William Kentridge