Exhibition view, Maximiliansforum München, Credits: Milena Wojhan

HALTUNG



2021, 4k video loop, 9:16


Video Link: https://youtu.be/FCDbImYivCM?si=-wxASSUZKSDsJ-vj

In white cube spaces, the presence of a Black body, even a digital one, shifts how work is read, interpreted, and valued. "Haltung" confronts this reality through a digitally rendered avatar created with Epic Games' MetaHuman Creator during its beta phase, when the platform promised "revolutionary" diversity for hyperreal human avatars.



Despite marketing claims of inclusivity, the software revealed itself as a Baukastenprinzip—a modular system built from racialized archetypes that betrayed its origins in predominantly white, male design teams. The "diversity" was cosmetic, offering preset variations rather than genuine representation. My avatar emerges from this constrained system, animated with subtle facial movements I captured through face-tracking: a blink, slight parting of lips, micro-expressions that suggest life within technological limitation.

The avatar maintains watch over the exhibition space, embodying my presence while highlighting both my physical absence and the inadequacy of digital representation tools. This creates layered tensions—viewers encounter my work knowing a Black artist made it, but through technology that struggles to authentically render Black identity beyond superficial parameters.

The work interrogates how both technological and institutional spaces shape artistic reception. When my practice involves transforming imperial technologies, does knowing these innovations come from a Black artist, represented through flawed software, alter their perceived legitimacy?

The avatar's steady gaze reverses traditional gallery dynamics, creating accountability within viewing experiences. "Haltung", posture, attitude, moral stance, becomes both literal and conceptual: holding position in space while embodying critical stance toward systems that consistently undervalue Black intellectual contributions, even when claiming inclusivity.

Through this technological intervention, the piece exposes how "diversity" in digital tools often remains surface-level, while maximizing conceptual impact about presence, absence, and authentic representation.