DOMENICO QUARANTA

The (art) world we actually have does not meet my standards

Archive for the ‘contemporary art’ tag

Art & the City: Holy Fire

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Immagine 4

A talk I had in Brescia (Italy) on April 22, 2009, in the series “Art and the City. Sguardi sul contemporaneo” curated by Enrico de Pascale. Presentation on Google Docs.

Written by Domenico Quaranta

September 25th, 2009 at 6:08 pm

DON’T SAY NEW MEDIA!

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Domenico Quaranta, “DON’T SAY NEW MEDIA!”, in FMR Bianca, n° 5, Franco Maria Ricci, Bologna, December 2008, pp. 92 – 107.

“Don’t say new media – Say art!” Gazira Babeli

“Forget the new, drop the media, enjoy art.”1 Régine Debatty

Queste due citazioni, entrambe molto recenti, sono emblematiche per vari motivi. La prima è l’ammonizione con cui Gazira Babeli, un’artista che vive nel mondo sintetico di Second Life, accompagna la spettacolare punizione che infligge a chiunque osi pronunciare la parola “new media” davanti ai suoi lavori: un tornado che solleva per aria il nostro alter ego digitale, o avatar, finché quest’ultimo corregge il tiro, dicendo semplicemente “arte”. Régine Debatty è una critica d’arte di origine belga che ha raggiunto la celebrità grazie a un blog intitolato We Make Money Not Art, per poi stupire – e, in certi casi, contrariare – il suo pubblico spostando l’enfasi della sua indagine dalla tecnologia all’arte senza prefissi. I due commenti rivelano, innanzitutto, che esiste un’area, ambiguamente definita “New Media” o “New Media Art”, a cui sia Régine che Gazira sono ricondotte loro malgrado; un termine e un’area in cui forse, un tempo, si sono riconosciute, ma che ora non le soddisfa più.

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Written by Domenico Quaranta

September 9th, 2009 at 2:56 pm

Holy Fire. Art of the Digital Age (2008)

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Poster of the exhibition
Poster of the exhibition

HOLY FIRE: ART OF THE DIGITAL AGE

Exibition curated and catalogue edited by: Domenico Quaranta, Yves Bernard

Bruxelles, April 18 – 30, 2008

iMAL Center for Digital Cultures and Technologies

Official website

ArtBrussels 2008

iMAL Center for Digital Cultures and Technology is proud to present Holy Fire. Art of the Digital Age, a collective exhibition featuring a unique panel of digital artworks created in the last ten years by internationally known new media artists, and coming from galleries and collections from around the world. Curated by iMAL director Yves Bernard and Italian curator Domenico Quaranta, Holy Fire is, in fact, featured into the “Off Program” of Art Brussels, the international contemporary art fair (April 18 – 21, 2008). Taking its cue from this occasion, Holy Fire is an attempt to explore how new media art, bypassing all the stereotypes connected with its presumed immateriality, was able to enter the art market.

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Written by Domenico Quaranta

September 6th, 2009 at 3:13 pm

Holy Fire – Press Release

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Poster of the exhibition
Poster of the exhibition

Holy Fire. Art of the Digital Age

curated by Yves Bernard & Domenico Quaranta
April 18 – 30, 2008
iMAL Center for Digital Cultures and Technology, Bruxelles
Vernissage 18 April, 18:30 – 23:30

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Written by Domenico Quaranta

September 6th, 2009 at 3:03 pm