My Books
AUTHOR AND EDITOR
2009
Domenico Quaranta, Maurizio Cattelan, RoseLee Goldberg, Fabio Cavallucci, Bruce Sterling, Wu Ming et al, Eva & Franco Mattes: 0100101110101101.ORG, Charta, Milan – New York 2009
Eva and Franco Mattes are the duo of Italian artist-provocateurs behind the infamous website 0100101110101101.ORG. Since meeting in Madrid in 1994 they have never separated, living a nomadic life around Europe and the US. Neither of them received a proper art education.
Among the pioneers of the Net Art movement, they are renowned for their masterful subversion of public media. They first gained notoriety by snagging the domain name Vaticano.org (1998) in order to undermine the Catholic Church’s official website. They then went on a cloning spree, copying and remixing other artists’ works, targeting “closed” websites, and turning private art into public art – transforming xclusive property into common culture.
Over time the Mattes have turned from virtual to physical space for their surreal artistic interventions. They caught the mainstream art world with its pants down with the invention of Darko Maver: this reclusive, radical artist achieved cult status and was featured in the Venice Biennale before turning out to be pure fiction.
Their superbly off-the-wall performances – that have caused them several lawsuits – include affixing fake architectural heritage plaques (An Ordinary Building, 2006), rolling out a media campaign for a non-existent action movie (United We Stand, 2005) and even convincing the people of Vienna that Nike had purchased the city’s historic Karlsplatz and was about to rename it “Nikeplatz” (Nike Ground, 2003).
Their art has been featured at the Venice Biennale (2001), the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2001), Manifesta, Frankfurt (2002) and in various venues worldwide, including the New Museum, New York (2005), Collection Lambert, Avignon (2006) and Performa, New York (2007 and 2009).
Featuring previously unseen works, the book you are holding is the first official monograph on the artists Eva and Franco Mattes, aka 0100101110101101.ORG. Over the last ten years, the Mattes have manipulated video games, Internet technologies, feature films and street advertising to reveal truths concealed by contemporary society. They have created media facades believable enough to elicit embarrassing reactions from governments, the public and the art world, and they have orchestrated several unpredictable mass performances, staged outside art spaces and involved unwitting audiences in scenarios tha mingle truth and falsehood to the point of being indistinguishable.
This book brings together all these exploits, including the anecdotes, indictments and controversies that have always accompanied them. At the same time, the book goes beyond the scope of an official biography, revealing the couple’s very first, and up to now secret, work: Stolen Pieces. Over two years, 1995-97, they toured the world’s most important museums and stole dozens of fragments from well-known works by artists such as Duchamp, Kandinsky, Beuys and Rauschenberg. The work, which has remained a secret for 14 years, is revealed and discussed here for the very first time.
A combination of history and fiction, criticism and plagiarism, jesting and journalism, this unique book includes contributions by artist Maurizio Cattelan, curator Fabio Cavallucci, Performa director RoseLee Goldberg, art critic Domenico Quaranta, cyberpunk visionary Bruce Sterling and the band of novelists Wu Ming.
Buy it on Amazon.com!
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Domenico Quaranta (ed), UBERMORGEN.COM, FPEditions, Brescia, February 2009. Euro 25,00, ISBN: 978-88-903308-5-8, 96 pages, English. With texts by Inke Arns and Jodi.org.
UBERMORGEN.COM is an artist duo created in Vienna, Austria, in 1999 by lizvlx and Hans Bernhard, a founder of etoy.
Behind UBERMORGEN.COM we can find one of the most unmatchable identities – controversial and iconoclast – of what they call “the contemporary European techno-fine-art avant-garde”. Their open circuit of conceptual art, drawing, software art, pixelpainting, computer installations, net.art, sculpture and digital activism (media hacking) transforms their brand into a hybrid Gesamtkunstwerk.
This monograph is a first attempt to provide an overview of their hybrid body of work, that moves constantly between art and entertainment, mass communication and one-to-one experience, digital and physical; and to introduce their corporate identity, that is itself a work of art. Through projects such as [V]ote Auction, Psych|OS, Art Fid, Superenhanced and the recent monument to the e-commerce age known as The EKMRZ Trilogy, and trough contributions by the art critics Inke Arns and Domenico Quaranta and the legendary net.art duo Jodi.org, this book is also a veritable portrait of a future that is already here.
To buy it or watch a sneak preview: FPEditions.com – IBS.it
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Antonio Caronia, Janez Jansa, Domenico Quaranta (eds), RE:akt! Reconstruction, Re-enactment, Re-reporting, FPEditions, March 2009. Euro 25,00, ISBN: 978-88-903308-6-5, English. With contributions by: Jennifer Allen, Antonio Caronia, Rod Dickinson, Domenico Quaranta, Jan Verwoert.
Just what is it that leads many contemporary artists to restage historic events, performances of the past, even imaginary events? Are they possessed by the post-modern demon? Does this practice spring from a cynical awareness of the decline of values? Is it yet another variation on “the end of history”? Or is it simply the end of the modern myth of the “originality” of the work of art, and an attempt to find a different, deeper path to critique the medial ideology of contemporary society?
Through the texts of critics, theorists and artists as Jennifer Allen, Antonio Caronia, Rod Dickinson, Domenico Quaranta and Jan Verwoert, and through the works by Lucas Bambozzi, Vaginal Davis, Quentin Drouet, Janez Jansa, Janez Jansa, Janez Jansa, Eva and Franco Mattes (aka 0100101110101101.ORG) and SilentCell Network, RE:akt! Reconstruction, Re-enactment, Re-reporting wants to offer some answers to these questions linked to the artistic practice of re-enactment and its possible redefinition.
To buy it or watch a sneak preview: FPEditions.com
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2008
Domenico Quaranta, Yves Bernard (eds), Holy Fire. Art of the Digital Age, exhibition catalogue, Bruxelles, iMAL, April 2008. FPEditions, Brescia 2008, pp. 126, € 25.00, ISBN 978-88-903308-4-1. Hardcover, English / French.
With contributions by: Inke Arns & Jacob Lillemose, Yves Bernard, Aristarkh Chernyshev, Roman Minaev & Alexei Shulgin, Vuk Cosic, Régine Debatty, Steve Dietz, Joan Leandre, Olia Lialina & Dragan Espenschied, Patrick Lichty, Wolf Lieser, Vicente Matallana, Eva & Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.org, Fabio Paris, Christiane Paul, Domenico Quaranta, Charles Sandison, Magdalena Sawon & Tamas Banovich, Paul Slocum, Bruce Sterling, Michele Thursz, Mark Tribe, UBERMORGEN.COM, Karen A. Verschooren.
Produced as a catalogue for the exhibition Holy Fire, Art of the Digital Age, this book is, indeed, more than a simple catalogue. Along with the works of the 27 artists in the exhibition, which represent the most interesting offspring of the new media art of the last fifteen years, it features the editor’s essays along with a collective interview involving some of the most important representatives of the new media art world. Holy Fire is not a book on new media art, but an exploration of the contemporary art of the digital age, and a pamphlet against the new media art paradigm and the self-isolation in which these practices evolved in the last sixty years. Or, using the words of Régine Debatty (We-make-money-not-art.com): “the new media label fits the genre like a straitjacket and sends it to a ghetto without even a flicker of compassion. Forget the new, drop the media, enjoy art.”
To buy it or watch a sneak preview: FPEditions – IBS.it
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Domenico Quaranta (ed), Gazira Babeli, FPEditions, Brescia, March 2008, pp. 88, € 20.00, ISBN 978-88-903308-2-7 [italian edition] 978-88-903308-3-4 [english edition]. With texts by Patrick Lichty, Alan Sondheim and Mario Gerosa.
Gazira Babeli is an artist who lives and works in the virtual world of Second Life, a 3D online universe entirely constructed and possessed by its residents. In almost two years Gazira Babeli has created a vast body of works which address the world she lives in, and which have lent her such a solid, recognizable image that she has become a household name in Second Life. She acts like a virus, unleashing earthquakes, tornados and storms of images, deforming the bodies of other residents and constructing metaphorical machines; a capricious deity, she herself is a work of art, a “constructed identity” which ably generates its own legends. This monographic publication tells her story, and presents and analyzes the most significant areas of her work, with contributions from writers such as Mario Gerosa and Domenico Quaranta, and Americans Patrick Lichty and Alan Sondheim.
Read my essay – Gaz me two times, baby (Gaz me twice today)
To buy it or watch a sneak preview: FPEditions – IBS.it
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Domenico Quaranta (ed), Todd Deutsch: Gamers, FPEditions, Brescia, January 2008, pp. 80, € 20.00, ISBN 978-88-903308-0-3 [italian edition] 978-88-903308-1-0 [english edition]. With an interview with the artist and a text by George Slade.
Todd Deutsch – Gamers is a photographic book that presents and explores the latest project from American artist Todd Deutsch. Gamers (2005 – ongoing) is a series of beautifully constructed photographs that casts an anthropological eye on the phenomenon of LAN parties, gatherings of videogamers who meet up in impromptu venues (basements, hotels, warehouses) to play their favorite games: World of Warcraft, Lineage, Grand Theft Auto… The book, which includes an interview with the artist and essays by the critics Domenico Quaranta and George Slade, is both a seminal work on an increasingly widespread subculture, and a publication of art criticism that explores the cultural and iconographic bases of this series of photographs, from religious imagery to the theme of cyborgs, to the recent phenomenon of Game Art.
To buy it or watch a sneak preview: FPEditions – IBS.it
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2007
Domenico Quaranta (ed), EVA E FRANCO MATTES (0100101110101101.ORG): Portraits. Published for the show EVA E FRANCO MATTES (0100101110101101.ORG): LOL, Fabio Paris Art Gallery, Brescia, January 2007. Texts in English and Italian.
Read the essay – Life and its double by Domenico Quaranta
Read the interview – “The most radical action you can do is to subvert yourself” by Domenico Quaranta
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2006
M. Bittanti, D. Quaranta (eds), GameScenes. Art in the Age of Videogames, Milan, Johan & Levi 2006. Texts in English and Italian, hardcover, 454 pages, 20 x 17 cm, 32,00 €, ISBN: 88-6010-010-0.
Edited by Matteo Bittanti and Domenico Quaranta, GameScenes. Art in the Age of Videogames provides a detailed overview of the emerging field of Game Art, examining the complex interaction and intersection of art and videogames.
Video and computer game technologies have opened up new possibilities for artistic creation, distribution, and appreciation. In addition to projects that might conventionally be described as Internet Art, Digital Art or New Media Art, there is now a wide spectrum of work by practitioners that crosses the boundaries between various disciplines and practices. The common denominator is that all these practitioners use digital games as their tools or source of inspiration to make art. They are called Game Artists.
GameScenes. Art in the Age of Videogames explores the rapidly expanding world of Game Art in the works of over 30 international artists. Included are several milestones in this field, as well as some lesser known works. In addition to the editors’ critical texts, the book contains contributions from a variety of international scholars that illustrate, explain, and contextualize the various artifacts.
Order the book on Amazon.com, iBS.it or many other bookstores!
Excerpts/Table of Contents:
- Table of contents
- Matteo Bittanti: This is not a Manifesto
- Domenico Quaranta: Game Aesthetics
- Valentina Tanni: Shooter
Reviews (selected):
- Review by Regine Debatty, We Make Money Not Art (English)
- Review by Angela Vettese, Il Sole 24 Ore (Italian)
- Review by Marco Belpoliti, La Stampa (Italian)
- Review by Matteo Bordone, Rolling Stone (Italian)
- Review by Videogiochi (Italian)
- Review by Arte (Italian)
- Review by GQ (Italian)
- Interview by Paolo Branca, Digicult (Italian)
- Review by Claudia Costa Peterson on RCCS (Resource Center for Cybercultural Studies), with my Author’s response
Extra:
Video interview on Tempi Dispari, RAI News 24:
Watch what’s left on my Youtube Channel!
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2005
Luca Lampo (ed), Connessioni Leggendarie. NET.ART 1995-2005. Texts by Marco Deseriis, Domenico Quaranta, Luca Lampo. Catalogue of the show, Mediateca di Santa Teresa, Milan, October 20 – November 10, 2005. Ready-made, Milan 2005, 21×21 cm, 120 pages, Creative Commons Licence 2005.
Download the .pdf (8.5 MB, Italian only)
Buy it on Neural.it
Read my introduction – The legend of net.art by Domenico Quaranta
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2004
Domenico Quaranta, NET ART 1994 – 1998. La vicenda di Äda’web, Vita & Pensiero, ““Strumenti”” Series, Milan, March 2004. 192 pages, 14,00 €, ISBN: 88-343-1971-0. Italian only.
In pochi anni la net art è passata dalle sperimentazioni iniziali alla sanzione museale, dall’indagine delle potenzialità (e dei limiti) del nuovo medium alla sua adozione come medium tra gli altri, fino all’uscita dalla rete. Dal mezzo ha tratto le sue caratteristiche fondamentali: l’essere insieme una realtà mondiale e casalinga, la diffusione e la complessità, ma anche la straordinaria fragilità.
Osservando il sito che più di ogni altro riflette tale evoluzione, questo libro ne analizza il momento iniziale, ripercorre i dibattiti che l’hanno accompagnata e discute alcune problematiche ancora aperte come quella, decisiva, della conservazione dell’arte in rete.
Related files (in English):
“Leaping into the abyss and resurfacing with a pearl”. E-mail interview with Jon Ippolito, in “Noemalab”, October 2005.
“Investigating a new realm, a new set of givens, a new landscape” – E-mail interview with Benjamin Weil, in Noemalab, September 2003.
“”We all looked at that site and this knowledge shows” – E-mail interview with Steve Dietz, in Noemalab, October 2003.
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Domenico Quaranta, Magritte. Classici dell’Arte Rizzoli, Rizzoli Libri Illustrati – Artificio Skira – Corriere della Sera, Milan, April 2004.
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Domenico Quaranta, Warhol, Classici dell’Arte Rizzoli, Rizzoli Libri Illustrati – Artificio Skira – Corriere della Sera, Milan, May 2004.
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CONTRIBUTOR
2009
D. QUARANTA, “Alice fa Yoga”, in Brice Coniglio (ed), Coniglioviola. Sono un pirata / Sono un signore, exhibition catalogue, Silvana Editoriale, October 2009.
Order it on the publisher’s website.
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D. QUARANTA, “Lilly controls my Foriginals” (pp. 46 – 47); “Amazon Noir – The Great Bookstore Robbery” (pp. 78 – 81); “UBERMORGEN’S SELF” (pp. 148 – 151). In Alessandro Ludovico (Ed.), UBERMORGEN.COM – MEDIA HACKING VS. CONCEPTUAL ART. HANS BERNHARD / LIZVLX, Christoph Merian Verlag, ISBN 978-3856164607, Euro 24,00
For the first time and marking UBERMORGEN.COM ’s 10-year anniversary, a critical examination of the complete body of work of the artist duo lizvlx and Hans Bernhard is presented in the form of a 200 page book, which includes more than 200 color pictures.
A highly varied assortment of critics, curators, and artists reflect on UBERMORGEN.COM’s border crossings in the channels of global mass media and on their radical actions above the abyss of the international art scene. It is this conglomerate of conceptual art, software art, fine art, media hacking, net.art and media actionism that makes UBERMORGEN.COM the hybrid Gesamtkunstwerk that stands out in Europe’s media art avant-garde. It includes texts and interviews by and with Inke Arns, Florian Cramer, Régine Debatty, Raffael Dörig, Marina Grzinic, Jacob Lillemose, Alessandro Ludovico, Stefan Nussbaumer, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Domenico Quaranta, Yukiko Shikata, Cornelia Sollfrank, Grischinka Teufl and Peter Weibel. The project section of the catalogue features exemplary projects such as [V]ote-Auction, the Generator Tetralogy, the Psych|OS cycle and the EKMRZ Trilogy: GWEI – Google Will Eat Itself, Amazon Noir – The Big Book Crime and The Sound of eBay.
The book results from three solo exhibitions held at the Basler Forum für Neue Medien [plug.in] (2005), at HMKV – Hartware MedienKunstVerein Dortmund (2006) and at Overgaden Contemporary Art Institute Copenhagen (2006).
Order it on Amazon.de or Merianverlag (CH)
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D. QUARANTA, “All the World is a Stage. Art on Virtual Platforms”, pp. 124 – 127, in Wolf Lieser (Ed), Digital Art, h.f.ullmann, 2009. 9,95 Euro, ISBN: 978-3-8331-5337-2
By it on Allbookstores.com or on the publisher’s website!
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Valerio Terraroli (ed.), Neo-Avant-Gardes, Postmodern and Global Art 1969-1999: Art of the Twentieth Century Vol. IV, Skira, Milan 2009.
Buy it on Amazon.com!
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D. QUARANTA, “Identity Permutations. The Art of 0100101110101101.ORG”. In AAVV, Theorizing Cultural Activism: Practices, Dilemmas and Potentialities, Rodopi, Amsterdam 2009.
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2008
Valerio Terraroli (ed.), The Birth of Contemporary Art 1946-1968: The Art of the 20th Century Volume III, Milan, Skira 2008.
Buy it on Amazon.com!
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D. QUARANTA, “Lezioni dalla Rete. La critica d’arte ai tempi di Internet”. In De Carli e Francesco Tedeschi (a cura di), IL PRESENTE SI FA STORIA. Scritti di storia dell’arte in onore di Luciano Caramel, Vita e Pensiero, Milano 2008.
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2007
Valerio Terraroli (ed.), The Artistic Culture between the Wars 1920-1945: ART of the 20th Century Volume II, Milan, Skira 2007.
Buy it on Amazon.com!
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D. QUARANTA, “La ricerca artistica in Lombardia dagli anni Sessanta ad oggi”, in V. Terraroli (a cura di), Lombardia moderna. Arti e architettura del Novecento, Milano, Skira, ottobre 2007 (pp. 288 – 319).
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2006
Valerio Terraroli (ed.), The Avant-garde Movements 1900-1919: Art of the Twentieth Century, Milan, Skira 2007.
Buy it on Amazon.com!
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D. QUARANTA, “MEDIA HACKING. Arte e manipolazione dei media”, 2006. In Antonio Caronia, Enrico Livraghi, Simona Pezzano (a cura di), L’arte nell’era della producibilità digitale, Mimesis Edizioni, collana “Eterotopie”, Milano 2006, pagine 81 – 90. Pp. 171, € 16,00, ISBN 978-88-8483-469-0.
Dowload the pdf (Italian)
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D. QUARANTA, in Nilo Casares (ed.), Casa de citas – House of Words, Gran Canaria Espacio Digital, 2006. ISBN 84-8103-474-6.
Downloadable pdf here.
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D. QUARANTA, “The Central Point of everything is not man, but rather the survival of the system”. An interview with Davide Grassi, in I. Ivkovic, D. Grassi (eds), Demokino. Virtual Biopolitical Agora, Aksioma – Maska, 2006 [Transformacije Series, n° 19].
Buy it on the Maska website.
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D. QUARANTA, “When the limit is set to zero”, in AAVV, 0006_Limiteazero, Hublab Editions, Milan 2006. Texts in Italian and English.
More informations here.
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2005
D. QUARANTA, “SolidLandscapes”, in Matteo Bittanti (a cura di), Civilization. Storie virtuali, fantasie reali, Costa & Nolan, collana Videoludica, settembre 2005.
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2004
D. QUARANTA, Andy Warhol, in Gianni Mercurio (ed.), The Andy Warhol Show, exhibition cat., Milano, Palazzo della Triennale, September 2004.
Buy it on Skira.net (save 15%)
