Hampshire College Art Gallery Presents “Dæmonomania,” by Anthony Discenza
The exhibition is on display in the Art Gallery from February 6 to March 21, 2026. The opening reception is Friday, February 14, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Encompassing a diverse range of appropriated materials — from a one-ton pallet of anthracite to synthetic clones of Judy Garland's voice — Anthony Discenza’s Dæmonomania centers on how operative metaphors drawn from occult and supernatural belief inform our relationship to technology. Across a variety of media, the exhibition contemplates the complex entanglements of mass consumption, resource exploitation, thermodynamic expenditure, and wish fulfillment that mark our contemporary moment.
In a 2024 artist’s talk about Dæmonomania, Discenza said, “The word demonomania is a psychological condition that refers to being convinced or believing that you are possessed by spirits or demonic entities, but I’ve changed the spelling. So, instead of D-E-M-O-N, it’s the older iteration of the word demon, D-A-E-M-O-N, which is used in computer science and engineering, where “daemon” references a process that runs in the background. For example, everyone’s gotten an email kicked back from the ‘mailer daemon.’ My interest is in the way that science and computer science borrow terms derived from the supernatural or the spiritual, and in this complex relationship between technology and magic.”
Anthony Discenza is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice investigates the tensions between textual and visual systems of representation, with a particular focus on the ways the metanarratives embedded in technological and representational systems shape experience in contemporary culture. Over three decades, his work has evolved through many phases, encompassing audio and video installation, post-conceptual sculpture, text-based work, AI-generated media, and collaborations with the film industry. His work has been exhibited at SFMOMA, the de Young Museum, V-A-C Foundation, OCAT Shanghai, moCa Cleveland, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Objectif Exhibitions, the Wattis Institute for the Contemporary Arts, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others.
He is currently based in Massachusetts, where he also runs lower_cavity, an artist residency and project space in Holyoke.
Visit the Art Gallery
Harold F. Johnson Library Center
Hampshire College
893 West Street Amherst, MA 01002
Gallery Hours
Monday through Friday 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Closed on Saturday
Sunday 2 - 5 p.m.
Article Tags
