Hito Steyerl and the work cycles of Mechanical Kurds and The Island
Published on 08/29/2026 at 10:47 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Hito Steyerl has spent the last years weaving complex installation cycles that link video, spatial design and sharp analysis of digital infrastructures. Her recent works Mechanical Kurds and The Island anchor this trajectory across Rome and Milan, as her official website and institutional overviews show.
The installation cycle Mechanical Kurds
Mechanical Kurds appears in MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporanea's 2026 program as a single-channel HD video installation with immersive spatial elements that address digital labor, AI and geopolitical conflict. Photography-now lists the Rome presentation from April 29 to August 30, 2026, situating it within the museum's 2026 season.
Commissioned in 2025 by Jeu de Paume in Paris and the New Museum in New York, the work uses testimonies from Kurdish-Syrian refugees employed as so-called 'ghost workers' in AI training processes, as MACRO-related reporting explains. The title folds together the eighteenth-century 'Mechanical Turk' and contemporary crowdsourcing systems, underscoring Steyerl's interest in machine myths and hidden labor.
The Island as flooded information space
Parallel to Mechanical Kurds, Steyerl's exhibition The Island occupies the Osservatorio Fondazione Prada in Milan, conceived as a site-specific environment around flooding as a metaphor for information saturation, climate crisis and AI-driven authoritarian tendencies. E-flux and Fondazione Prada announcements place its span between December 4, 2025 and late 2026 in the gallery above Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
The show interweaves heterogeneous elements that include video, sound and sculptural components, converging on how data flows overwhelm perception and infrastructure. Her official website lists The Island among recent and current solo exhibitions, alongside projects in Vienna and Bonn, underscoring its role in her medium-term research arc.
All news and background on Hito Steyerl
Further reports on Hito Steyerl's exhibitions, installations and institutional projects can be found in the AD HOC NEWS archive.
The work core of Steyerl's cycles
Steyerl operates primarily with essayistic video, multi-channel projections and digitally inflected installations that examine how images circulate within militarized and commercial infrastructures. Work cycles like Mechanical Kurds, The Island, Der Menschheit ist die Kugel... and Animal Spirits form a loose constellation across Rome, Milan, Vienna and Bonn.
Where the artist stands now
Against this backdrop, Hito Steyerl's current position is defined by an active studio practice with multiple long-running institutional presentations rather than a single short-term event window.
Key facts on Hito Steyerl
- Artist: Hito Steyerl
- Medium / Genre: Video installation and essay film (conceptual)
- Born: 1966, Munich, Germany
- Place(s) of practice: Studio practice anchored in Berlin
- Active since: Early 2000s, with essay films entering the festival and museum circuit
- Key work groups: Mechanical Kurds, The Island, Der Menschheit ist die Kugel bei einem Ohr hinein und beim anderen herausgeflogen, Animal Spirits
- Current/last exhibition: Mechanical Kurds, MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, April 29–August 30, 2026
- Major collections: Nationalgalerie (Berlin), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Tate (London), Centre Pompidou (Paris)
- Awards: Käthe Kollwitz Prize 2015, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen honors among others
- Next date: No single new date within the immediate 30-day window dominates her ongoing multi-venue presentations
Frequently asked questions about Hito Steyerl
Where can Hito Steyerl's work cycle Mechanical Kurds be experienced?
Mechanical Kurds was presented at MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporanea in Rome as part of the 2026 program, running from April 29 to August 30, 2026, with an installation combining video and spatial elements.
What defines Hito Steyerl's exhibition The Island in Milan?
The exhibition The Island at Osservatorio Fondazione Prada in Milan revolves around flooding as a metaphor for information overload, climate crisis and AI-driven control systems, embedding visitors in a multi-layered environment of images and sound.
How does Hito Steyerl's practice connect installations like Mechanical Kurds and Animal Spirits?
Works such as Mechanical Kurds and Animal Spirits extend her sustained investigation into digital labor, financial speculation and algorithmic governance, appearing across institutions like MACRO in Rome and Kunstmuseum Bonn within a broader network of exhibitions.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
