Art exhibition on digital world opens in Athlone's Luan Gallery

System Arming - a new art exhibition focusing on the ways digital technologies are influencing our world - was officially opened in Athlone's Luan Gallery on Saturday, September 20.

Dr Francis Halsall, a writer and academic from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin was the guest speaker at the launch of the exhibition, which runs until mid-November.

Nadia J Armstrong, Kennedy Browne, Aisling Phelan, Colin Martin are the artists whose work is exhibited in System Arming. Curated by Aoife Banks, the exhibition is supported by Arts Council funding.

The gallery said the exhibition "explores the complex ways digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and transhumanism intersect with contemporary power structures".

Through the use of sculpture, film, and installation, the exhibiting artists "examine how data mining, algorithms, and machine learning shape our daily lives, and how these technologies are increasingly used to influence or control behaviour, reshaping human agency, perception, and collective intelligence.

"The works in this exhibition confront the tangible, real-world impacts of these systems, from the psychological strain of algorithmic manipulation to the environmental costs of energy-intensive data centres.

"System Arming invites audiences to consider the ethical, social, and existential questions of living in a world designed to anticipate, influence, and ultimately arm itself against us," stated the Luan Gallery.

The exhibition will remain on display until November 16.

Admission to the gallery is free for groups and individuals. Tours for schools and groups can be arranged by contacting the gallery in advance.

Luan Gallery is open to the public Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 5pm and Sundays from 12 noon to 5pm.