Mimisbrunnr

Thijs Jaeger received a contribution for his project Mimisbrunnr, which refers to Norse mythology.

Once lived in a gigantic silver-plated palace in the upper world Ásgard - the place where gods and goddesses resided - the supreme god Odin: one of the many gods in Norse mythology. He is not only the god of battle and death, but especially that of wisdom. He obtained his wisdom from the sacred tree called Yggdrasil. The severed head of the decapitated giant Mímir guarded the well near the sacred tree. Mímir allowed Odin to drink from the well on the condition that he pay a price: his eye. By sacrificing his eye, Odin was allowed to drink the water from the well, and in return he gained omniscience.

Where sagas and myths were created by man, man now has artificial intelligence to glean wisdom from and believe in as an omniscient source. The question remains whether humans will also have to pay a price for drawing from this source, just as Odin had to do. Fortunately, for now, the presence of humans is still needed to create rituals and customs; to maintain traditions and then pass them on to a new generation who can make them their own again; to both worship gods and put artificial intelligence to work.

Thijs showed the outcomes during the fourth edition of the Symbiosis series at Platform Post. In the exhibition, alongside Justine Grillet, he showed new translations of myths and alternative relics in the form of an installation of ceramic sculptures, AI-generated images, video and sound.