HAMBURG.- The exhibition Tactics and Mythologies: Andrea Orejarena & Caleb Stein, opens the new series “Viral Hallucinations” at the Temporary House of Photography Hamburg, presenting the first institutional solo show of the New York duo Andrea Orejarena & Caleb Stein.
Andrea Orejarena & Caleb Stein’s (1994, Colombia, UK, respectively) conceptual, documentary work uses the intersection of technology, memory, and desire to explore American mythologies and narratives. Orejarena & Stein’s multi-media work often involves extensive research into how their images relate to collective image making and the networked volume of images surrounding us. These bodies of work are set against a subtle backdrop of social tensions or the lingering echoes of past conflicts—present as underlying currents but never dominating the narrative. Central to their practice is the elevation of collective processes and collaboration, which serve as key strategies.
Tactics and Mythologies delves into visual disinformation tactics and the impact of fictional narratives and viral mythologies on individual perception. The dialogue between the projects a.o. Long Time No See (2015–20), War Words (2019–24) and American Glitch (2020–24) explores the synergies between the media-based disinformation, constructions of truth, and new propaganda techniques developed during the Vietnam-US-War and the new mythologies of simulation and conspiracy narratives that now shape collective imaginaries online.
Orejarena & Stein’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at Vin Gallery in HCMC, Jiazazhi Press’s project space in Shanghai, Vincom Center for Contemporary Art in Hanoi, FOAM in Amsterdam, Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, Palo Gallery in New York, The Curator’s Room in Amsterdam, Belfast Photo Festival, Arles Photo Festival, Encontros da Imagem, among others. Their first book, Long Time No See, was published by Jiazazhi Press in 2022. Their second book, American Glitch is published by Gnomic Book. Tactics & Mythologies is their first institutionally show worldwide.
Alongside Orejarena & Stein’s works, the exhibition features two self-study labs documenting the research process on images that serve as viral carriers of imaginary worlds and fictional narratives as part of the “Viral Hallucinations” series.
The exhibition and event series “Viral Hallucinations” (2024–26) explores the expanding ecosystem of photographically-interpreted images that serve as viral carriers of imaginary worlds and fictional narratives, focusing on the media and technological conditions that drive the dynamics of a »new conspiracyism«.
“Viral Hallucinations” presents a series of exhibitions, lectures, workshops, conversations and performances at the Temporary House of Photography, focusing on conceptual documentary projects and emerging voices in international photography and its experimental fringes. In addition to the classic exhibition program, the Temporary House of Photography in Hamburg, Germany, serves as a space for the examination of current socio-technical phenomena and digital image cultures in our algorithmically ordered and increasingly post-factual world.
Curator: Nadine Isabelle Henrich, Curator, House of Photography
Produced by the Deichtorhallen Hamburg
