News from a Humanless Future (Neues aus der menschenleeren Zukunft)

PUPPET THEATER In the Kulturlokal, Karla Kracht’s multimedia installation offers outstandingly diverse impulses for thought.

By Helene Mayerhofer

FÜRTH — That artificial intelligence has become a fixed part of our everyday lives is no longer surprising. Be it voice assistants, automated image creation, or algorithmic decision-making: the technologies that once seemed futuristic are now deeply integrated into our lives. But what if the world, and we as creative beings and users of these mechanisms, no longer existed?

What remains of our culture, our traditions, our emotions?

Artist Karla Kracht tackles this question in her exhibition “What Humanity Taught Us,” currently on display at the Kulturlokal in Fürth as part of the International Figure Theater Festival. The artist, who lives in Spain, works in an interdisciplinary way, engaging with current societal structures and dystopias.

Visitors are guided into a kind of cave installation. Kracht transforms the premises of the former train station into a dark, almost sacred space—somewhere outside of time, disconnected from the present. You land in a future where humans no longer exist, where only traces—echoes—of them remain. A future possibly inherited by an artificially intelligent successor.

In a circular route through the installation, visitors can experience Kracht’s work with all their senses. On the ground floor, a short film projection welcomes the audience. It shows archaic-looking figures, alienated and stuttering in futuristic landscapes, surrounded by an eerie, monotonous voice. Somewhere between sci-fi horror and dark humor. If a joke is a joke—is it still one in the future?

The path through the installation leads further upstairs. In soft, dim lighting, miniature sculptures, mechanical objects, and glowing artifacts are arranged as if they were relics from a forgotten civilization. Some of Kracht’s figures seem strangely familiar. Their gestures and poses evoke religious ceremonies. Traditions and rituals, as we know them—but stripped of their context. The beings in the cave know no grief, no traditions, no reverence—yet they have somehow preserved it all. But for what purpose?

Through her multimedia installation, Karla Kracht stimulates all the senses. Her soundscapes and projections in English, combined with her moving sculptures, build a dense sci-fi narrative. The exhibition is not a playful philosophical thought experiment. Karla Kracht’s research delves into sacred traditions and examines especially the interrelations between ritual and technological progress. She also includes gender-specific aspects of ritual. These play an important role in her work and research.

In this immersive installation with its rapid technological advances, Kracht examines and questions our domain, the essential elements of our society, even automation and extinction. With her Museum of the Future, she poses a pressing question:
What remains of humanity—or of being human?

INFO
“What Humanity Taught Us”: Kulturlokal Fürth (Bahnhofplatz 2), daily 2–7 p.m., free admission. Audiovisual guided tours on May 31 (6 p.m.) and June 1 (5 p.m.); ends July 1.