curated by Jeong Ok Jeon and Chiara Giardi
Presented in collaboration with ARCOLABS
Based on months of online fieldwork, “Imposter” investigates the visual language of digital advertising on the internet in Indonesia. It examines a precarious visual economy where manipulation, deception, and seduction operate across the blurry boundaries of legality –-particularly in areas of unregulated online gambling, predatory lending, and semi-erotic content. Nugraha collected 50 advertisements from various Indonesian websites, both legal and illicit, focusing on online gambling, payday loans, and sexualized modeling or adult-themed content.
curated by Evita Verbrugge
“Like a Moth to a Flame” delves into the seductive power of digital temptation - from algorithmically curated content to the culture of instant gratification. In a technological landscape where platforms personalise and imtimately adapt to our behaviour, the boundaries between authentic desire and engineered response begin to blur. It asks a provocative question: are our choices truly our own, or are they sublty steered by systems we barely comprehend?
curated by Heiko Schmid
The exhibition “Greetings from Germany” is based on artistic research
by Aram Bartholl. The artist has been looking into the rise of
excessive police violence in Germany in recent years. In particular, in
Berlin, which has had a conservative CDU government since 2023, the
police often use disproportionate violence, especially against
protesters in solidarity with Palestine.
curated by Ugo Pecoraio
What lies beyond the surface of a painting? What remains unseen? In his solo exhibition for KUNSTSURFER, Linus Weber delves into new realities by crafting digital landscapes that extend the life of his originally analog paintings. Weber's works inhabit these newly imagined environments—universes where stories persist and flourish, transcending the boundaries of imagination.
click to read more
curated by Chiara Giardi
Pasuth Sa-ingthong presents a new body of work titled “Interconnectedness”. The project shows fragmented views of a glowing fractal-based structure in a swampy area. This was inspired by the folklore surrounding the Phae Mueang Phi forest park in northern Thailand. The park is well-known for its mushroom-like stone formations and the legend of an old woman who suddenly found gold and silver but could only find her way home once she left the treasure behind. Pasuth Sa-ingthong draws on the mystery of this place to explore the interconnectedness between the natural and digital world through myth and fractal structures.
click to read more
curated by Ugo Pecoraio
Jennifer Merlyn Scherler’s work "Wasteland, Baby!" returns in a new form as a digital portal on KUNSTSURFER. Originally presented as a video installation at HEK (House of Electronic Arts), this work delves into grieving strategies for coping with global warming and ecological catastrophes, often embracing back-to-nature movements.
click to read more
curated by Chiara Giardi and Evita Verbrugge
For “All too human?” Dagmar Schürrer presents excerpts of "Where does the rest of the world begin" and Nanut Thanapornrapee shows his work “CAPTHCA” (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Humans and Computers Apart). Their independent research interestingly meets in the quest for understanding the human condition. If Schürrer’s work challenges the notion of a human as an exceptional, singularly conscious individual entity, Thanapornrapee’s reminds us of our cyborg identities through speculation and sci-fi.
curated by Heiko Schmid
TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS: A Simulacrum within Simulacra" is a small digital excerpt from the intricate, research-based artwork TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS, which explores the Deleuzian concept of the simulacrum. Utilising KUNSTSURFER, it replaces generic online advertisements with artistic representations, effectively transforming the digital realm into a promotional platform for a fictional museum.
curated by Heiko Schmid
A shimmering space opens up when the human is touching the non-human. AND THEN WE TOUCH raises our awareness of the performative nature of categories such as humanity and animality and confronts us with our own needs for sensuality, touch and playfulness.
curated by Chiara Giardi & Kenneth Ting Yu Lin
How do web-based creative practices relate across cultures and national borders? ‘Framed : Wormhole’ is a cultural and professional exchange. It asks questions like: If we take culture to include our online activities and identities, how do their online and offline sides relate to each other?
curated by Noemi Garay (Panke Gallery)
"Soft Narratives" presents works by Molly Soda, Maya Man, and Chia Amisola - three artists who use the internet to develop their sensitive and multimodal narratives. In the exhibition, the selected works are also interpreted as examples of a new generation of internet artists.
curated by Evita Verbrugge, Heiko Schmid & Ugo Pecoraio
Testing, downloading, and conversations at Helmhaus, Zurich.
curated by Chiara Giardi, Evita Verbrugge, Heiko Schmid, Itay Blaish and Ugo Pecoraio
The exhibition will reflect on current digital culture and online advertisement, taking over imagery from memes, cyborg-like figures, people created by artificial intelligence, virtual reality worlds and even internet porn.
A collaboration with Arcolabs (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Imposter (2025) is a digital exhibition by Indonesian artist Theo Nugraha, created in collaboration with artist aldooink. It is presented through the KUNSTSURFER browser extension as part of a partnership with ARCOLABS, a Jakarta-based curatorial initiative focusing on contemporary and new media art.
Based on months of online fieldwork, Imposter investigates the visual language of digital advertising on the internet in Indonesia. It examines a precarious visual economy where manipulation, deception, and seduction operate across the blurry boundaries of legality –-particularly in areas of unregulated online gambling, predatory lending, and semi-erotic content. Nugraha collected 50 advertisements from various Indonesian websites, both legal and illicit, focusing on online gambling, payday loans, and sexualized modeling or adult-themed content.
What emerges is a study of visual tactics designed to exploit economic anxiety, masculine desire, and a culture of digital risk-taking. What may initially seem like low-quality or unsophisticated design is in fact a highly contextual, calculated aesthetic. Nugraha refers to this aesthetic in his own words as "sangat ngejreng, norak, berlebihan, dan kampungan," which loosely translates as flashy, tacky, excessive, and kitsch. He emphasizes that this loud and garish style carries distinct local meaning and appeal. It reflects not just a design choice, but a culturally-specific strategy of attraction for those seeking quick relief and/or adrenaline.
In Indonesia, this visual culture is set against a landscape of economic instability shaped by both global and domestic pressures. Current international trade tensions, weakening public trust in the government’s credibility, and widespread layoffs have all contributed to a general atmosphere of uncertainty and financial strain. Many Indonesians find themselves in need of quick economic relief and thus become even better preys for expanding scamming networks. In this context, these advertisements are not simply nuisances but symptoms of deeper systemic socio-economic precarity.
Overcoming the loneliness of surfing experiences, illicit platforms interestingly leverage peer-to-peer sharing and referral schemes to expand their reach. This seems an especially effective strategy in Indonesia’s collectivist and risk-prone society, where risk-taking behaviors are more culturally acceptable –what cultural theorist Geert Hofstede terms low “uncertainty avoidance”. Thus, high-risk, high-reward betting strategies, such as parlay tournaments, may sound especially appealing and draw even more individuals into cycles of debt and digital criminality.
Together with aldooink, Nugraha transformed the collected ad materials into a series of audiovisual compositions that mimic how real ads capture user attention and exaggerate the original ads’ flashing, blinking, and spinning effects. They created three series of works respectively focused on online gambling (ID: judi online = judol), online lending (pinjam online = pinjol) and sexualised content. Each series includes ten distinct ad formats, each based on the most common digital advertising sizes. Nugraha also extracted audio data from the visuals to create soundscapes that sonically translate the digital environments he investigated. The resulting works are short moving images that subvert the appeal of the original content by introducing sonic tension and visual overload.
Rather than occupying a physical or static online gallery, Imposter unfolds within the fluid and unpredictable landscape of the internet itself, using the KUNSTSURFER browser extension as both exhibition platform and conceptual frame. The artworks are neither fixed in one location nor shown in a linear sequence; rather, they appear randomly as users navigate the web, which resonates the very algorithmic unpredictability of the ad environments that Nugraha investigates. This curatorial gesture transforms the internet itself into an exhibition space—not controlled by curators, but driven by the logic of online advertising and algorithmic decision on what to show. Imposter resists the traditional control of the gallery, by embedding itself directly into the spaces where digital manipulation thrives.
Through the KUNSTSURFER extension, Nugraha’s moving image of digital collages are embedded into the user's everyday browsing experience. Just like regular ads, Imposter appears unexpectedly, during moments when users might be distracted or casually browsing.This moment of disruption, seduction or surprise becomes an artistic experience, turning ordinary internet activity into a space of reflection. Imposter uses the same techniques as online ads to get viewers’ attention—but instead of trying to sell something, it prompts viewers to think.
Imposter functions both as a mirror and as a lens. It reflects how flashy and deceptive visuals are actually key tools in digital capitalism. By turning these visuals into exaggerated, chaotic sound and image, Nugraha and aldooink break their seductive power and make us think about how we are being influenced online. More than a critique, the project creates a space for viewers to look more closely at how these visual tricks shape the way we experience the internet in Southeast Asia.
Curated by Jeong Ok Jeon (Arcolabs) with Chiara Giardi
Theo Nugraha (born 1992 in Samarinda, Indonesia) is an artist, curator, and cultural organizer. A pioneering figure in the Indonesian experimental sound scene, he launched the first noise project in his hometown and has been active since 2013, with a discography of nearly 200 releases. His multidisciplinary practice spans audio, visual, and performance-based media. He is a member of the Milisifilem Collective, which explores experimental visual languages, an artist at the 69 Performance Club, and a co-initiator of the Situationist Under-Record Project. He also co-founded the HEX Foundation and Extended.Asia, a regional platform for sound and visual artists. Currently, he serves as curator at Rumah Adat Budaya Daerah Kota Samarinda and is part of the editorial team at Visual Jalanan, a platform dedicated to socially engaged visual culture.
Aldo Nugraha, also known as aldooink, is an audio-visual artist whose journey began after attending the "Kehidupan" workshop led by Oomleo in mid-2012 at Jakarta 32°C. With a hypnotic style that blends sound and visuals, aldooink mixes pleasure with recklessness in his creative approach. He currently works at RCTI+ as a motion and graphic designer, while also performing as a visual and disc jockey. He is an active member of Underadar Record.