Do you remember the first time you logged on to a desktop computer? How it felt like the world expanded and you gained access to a different place and a new state of mind? ‘The Desktop’ takes its starting point in the feeling of transcending the physical and losing oneself in a digital realm. 

The computer desktop is a metaphor - when the first interfaces were designed they mimicked the physical desktop. We were given the objects that we were familiar with - making the digital a continuation of the physical life. Spøgelsesmaskinen traces the idea of the graphical user interface to where it all began, the physical desk, and connects it with visions of past and future computers. Historically, the desktop was a physical manifestation of power, whoever was in control was situated behind the mahogany desk. Today, the desktop computer equals work. Offices, cubicles and never-ending days behind the screen. 

The pixel is the basic structure in the works and pays homage to this unique digital material and provides each individual work with an air of nostalgia. We have had the personal computer for a long time. We can now look back at our history with our computers and the various generations of desktops and reminiscence.

The exhibition exists in Bricks Gallery and on the blockchain. The blockchain is a shared data structure and for Spøgelsesmaskinen it equals the coming of a decentralized web and most importantly a space for community and friendship. 

 – Majken Overgaard, curator, Copenhagen, 2023