The dark screen of the soul: Ludwig Museum unveils 'Black Mirror' collection survey

The Ludwig Museum’s collection, which has been developing for several decades, features a number of contemporary works that deal with imaginary visions of the future or interpret the present as a dystopian reflection of the past in some way. The 90 works featured in the exhibition serve as a kind of black mirror: we see not only our present in them, but also a vision of the future that helps us understand what kind of future we want to avoid. The title of the exhibition, Black Mirror, has multiple meanings and is strongly connected to both the present and the past. In contemporary culture, the term primarily refers to the dark surface of switched-off digital displays. In this sense, the concept has become a sign of malfunctions, freezes, or complete system crashes (“black death”). Charlie Brooker’s dystopian series “Black Mirror” has contributed significantly to its spread in culture, using the dark screen as a metaphor for technological self-reflection. H