Cyberforms launches 5×5, an initiative where artists take the curator’s seat, selecting five fellow artists. Each month, a curator will guide an exhibition based on one of the five elements – Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Metal – culminating in a physical exhibition this July
For the second show of the series, curated by Strano, the artists explore Metal — an element that has shaped our past, defines our present, and forges the future. A shape-shifting force born in the hearts of stars, it has both built civilizations and torn them apart. It builds cities and tools, yet it also casts chains and fuels war It carries us into the digital age through microchips, yet succumbs to rust and decay. It is solid and unyielding, yet can be melted, reshaped, and reinvented. It is ancient, yet ever at the edge of tomorrow.
0x3y3
The Weight of Everything We've Ever Built
edition of 1
this relentless separation of things, then the mania of alloys feigning pure- re-caching, reconfigurations, alchemia corroding the pointed-to
turn and hew at this instable state: a world floating off its underpinnings
your shoulders hoist spires into the citrine mist and yet all your aspirations cavitate into debased albedos, again
Ceren Su
Steel Flea
edition of 8
Steel fleas ripple the metal surface as they move. Referring to Nikolai Leskov’s story The Steel Flea, this imagery highlights the paradox beneath technological progress: the repetitive cycles of labour’s devaluation in the digital age leave subtle yet persistent marks—much like waves on a metal surface. Here, technology becomes a ground that reveals the tension between control and resistance.
MEK
Mercury, Memory.
edition of 12
‘Mercury, Memory’ attempts to draw a parallel between pixel dithering (a drawing technique) and the memory loss phenomenon caused by metal (mercury) poisoning.
In the West, metal is often viewed as an element of progress, while in the East, it has historically and culturally been recognized as an element of decay, sickness, and death. Mercury, a metallic agent, is well-documented as one of the most severe causes of poisoning in the brain—gradually erasing memories and the sense of self.
The 12 pages that MEK created in the artwork are written and designed as if they were a documentation and study of this phenomenon, authored by someone whose brain is itself riddled with mercury.
Sabato
Quantum Computer (two sycamores)
edition of 11
Drawing was inspired by Google’s Sycamore Quantum Computer that produced breakthrough results in 2019. The Sycamore is a real marvel of material sciences as quantum computer chips require special superconductors that can sustain quantum states at near absolute zero temperatures.
Strano
Rise of the Fallen Star
edition of 25
Before flames were harnessed and rivers sullied, when the winds were pure and the soil untamed, metal fell from the heavens; divine and fated, both a gift and a curse.
