The Merge – Scenes from a Simulated Reality
by Sara Galbiati, Peter Helles Eriksen and Tobias Selnaes Markussen
About the project
In their ongoing project The Merge, the Danish photographers collective Sara Galbiati (1981), Peter Helles Eriksen (1984) and Tobias Selnaes Markussen (1982) explores developments in artificial intelligence and robotics, and visually interprets the possibility that we are already living inside a computer simulation.
They made the chapter ‘Scenes from a Simulated Reality’ exclusively for Forhanna, a futuristic worst-case-scenario that challenges the viewer to look into a future where man and machine merge.
The project was on display at the photography Biennale BredaPhoto, which was held from 5 September till 21 October 2018 in Breda, The Netherlands.
“a futuristic worst-case-scenario that challenges the viewer to look into a future where man and machine merge.”
When I Saw the Sun and the Moon at the Same Time
A 24-hour journey along the Seedyk (sea dyke) in Friesland in 24 minutes. Tina Farifteh developed the installation specially for BredaPhoto. It is part of Tina in Sexbierum, a transmedia project about displacement, detachment and the simultaneous desire for a home and inability to feel at home in a society that continuously rejects you. Forhanna supported Tina with her project that has been produced by the storytelling production agency Prospektor.
Tina Farifteh is a visual artist who came to the Netherlands from Tehran at the age of thirteen. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 2021 with her project The Flood, which won several prizes, including the Royal Academy Bachelor Award.
Her documentary Kitten or Refugee? was awarded the first prize in the storytelling category at the Zilveren Camera awards in 2024.
Farifteh moved to Sexbierum because she could no longer find affordable housing in Amsterdam. Her friends returned to their hometowns: Voorburg, Sint-Michielsgestel and Krimpen aan de Lek but she could not go back to Tehran. ‘If your way back home is cut off, you might as well go to a random place with a nice name and a beautiful view.’
Project images
About the photographers
Sara Galbiati, Peter Helles Eriksen and Tobias Selnaes Markussen
Peter Helles Eriksen (1984), Sara Brincher Galbiati (1981) and Tobias Selnaes Markussen (1982) are a photographers collective based in Copenhagen, Denmark. They joined forces in 2015, and had their first joint international exhibition a year later at Rencontres d’Arles 2016, where they released the book Phenomena.
They are represented by East Wing Galery (Dubai). In 2018, they were awarded the BJP International Photography Award.
Project updates
What Forhanna did
type of support: Finance & Production grant
In November 2017, Forhanna awarded Sara, Peter & Tobias a working grant to make an exclusive exhibition for the international photography biennale BredaPhoto. An open call was released in mid 2017.
Over 60 photographers submitted their projects. A jury of representatives from BredaPhoto and Forhanna selected the works.
