Icons exhibition in Warsaw explores digital symbols and rituals

A small exhibition at the National Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, titled 'Icons – Our Daily Digital Rituals', curated by the Polish collective Pangenerator, explores the persistence and meaning of digital symbols. The show features installations evoking familiar graphic elements like the loading wheel, progress bar, cursor arrow, hourglass, and gestures such as swipe, scroll, and tap, as well as the ubiquitous selfie. The collective, composed of Millennials and Generation Y, aims to reflect the digital experience of audiences, from vintage items like a Pegasus-compatible console (a Nintendo Entertainment System clone) to contemporary social media tools. The exhibition draws on the history of graphical user interfaces, which emerged in the 1960s through pioneers like Ivan Sutherland and Douglas Engelbart, transforming computers from specialist machines to accessible multimedia devices. The show runs from 2020 to 2021.