Nye Thompson

ECHO

November 14, 2021 - February 25, 2022

ECHO delves into the mechanisms of the technologically mediated gaze in contemporary society. Nye Thompson investigates satellite-generated imagery and the intricate systems that produce these images. According to the artist: “A fast-growing ecosystem of satellites is watching and recording our world and our activity. This godlike vertical gaze inspires megalomaniacal dreams and plans, turning a dehumanized socio-geography into aesthetics and the visible world into data and potential military targets. It is also largely unreciprocated: the satellites see us in increasingly vivid detail. We barely see them and are rarely even inclined to try.”

In ECHO, Thompson creatively examines our relationship with these elusive systems, seeking ways to establish a mutual gaze. She highlights the shift in perspective—from a horizontal, human “face-to-face” view to a superhuman, “God-like” vertical vantage point—and its implications for how we perceive our planet. This transformation reflects broader economic and military struggles occurring in the stratosphere, fundamentally altering our understanding of global space and its representation.

Through her project, Thompson interrogates how this elevated perspective turns the world into a dataset, with profound implications for power, control, and surveillance. The exhibition explores these technological systems as both aesthetic phenomena and tools of geopolitical strategy, revealing their dual nature as instruments of wonder and domination.

Nye Thompson (UK) is an artist-turned-software designer-turned-artist, known for her experimental software architectures that explore network-embedded power dynamics and machinic visions of the world. Her breakthrough 2016 solo show, Backdoored.io—described by Channel 4 News as “too shocking to broadcast”—sparked international attention and even triggered a government complaint.

Since then, Thompson has exhibited extensively in the UK and globally, including venues such as Tate Modern, The Barbican, The Lowry, The V&A, ZKM Karlsruhe, Ars Electronica, and The Louvre. In 2021, she won the Lumen Prize Gold Award for UNINVITED, a short film created in collaboration with UBERMORGEN. Her innovative work has earned her monikers like “the new Big Brother” (Vogue) and “a contemporary Jacques Cousteau” (Bob & Roberta Smith). Thompson’s work is part of the V&A Museum National Collection and various private collections worldwide.

Partners: National Theater Marin Sorescu, Revista ARTA

Acknowledgment: Cultural project is co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration.