Here you can find my set on Flickr. And these are by Rosa Menkman, who did a really good job (thanks, Rosa!). Some nice shots can be also found here and here.

Yesterday Rhizome.org started publishing a series of beautiful posts on the demoscene, a widespread and long-time phenomenon still little known out of the underground niche that contributed to it. I wrote shortly about it in my text for the catalogue of Playlist. Playing Games, Music, Art, the show I curated for LABoral (Gijon) some months ago and that closed on May 15. Now I’m happy to announce that the show will travel  to the iMAL Center for digital cultures and technology in Bruxelles, where it will open on June 3 with some fresh new works. More will come soon. By now, here you can find the website iMAL designed for Playlist, featuring texts, short explanations of the works and links to most of them.

Above you can see one of the new works on show: the video Come Together, coded by Erik Nilsson on a C64 BBS, with music by Goto80. Enjoy!

Some days ago (namely on Saturday, October 06, 18:42 Second Life time), an artist was banned from Odyssey. No playing: Odyssey, well know in Second Life as the most free, open-minded context for artists and performers, the place where Gazira Babeli set her retrospective and where most of Second Front’s performances took place, for the first time seems to set a limit to the freedom of its own residents. Someone ate the forbidden apple, and was expelled from Paradise.
This is, at least, what we could understand reading a current thread on Rhizome. But what really happened that awful day? How can we explain it? Let’s start from the beginning.

Salvatore Iaconesi, alias xdxd, is an Italian new media artist, activist and open source coder who did an impressive amount of work in many fields, ranging from generative art to artificial intelligence, from performance to code poetry to interactive installations. Some months ago, he entered Second Life and he did some un-authorized installations at Ars Virtua and in other places. In many private and public discussions, he never made a mistery of his criticism against Second Life. As most of the best artists inside there, he is conscious to be in a technically limited environment, where most of the things pretending to be “art” are childish efforts, miles and miles away from what we currently call “contemporary art”. But the fact that he kept on working in Second Life demonstrates that he sees in it an interesting socio-cultural context, where he can play with its human (or inhuman) dynamics. Or, in his own words: “I really don’t even value Second Life so much. Want to know what i find interesting in it? the social-niche mindfucker that it became, and the way that it has been exploited from mass media, and the mechanisms behind mediocre people using it to gain attention, and a badly-recycled form of human nature struggling to come out over there, too.”
So, he subscribed the Odyssey community and, during the Gate event, he sent out a robot avatar who talked with other avatars in German, using fragments coming from Franz Kafka’s books, and he hacked another’s artist work filling it up with jelly polygons. He called this performance I love recursiveness. I was aware of the first performance and I liked it, since it played with SL’s “social software” and had a kind of surreal effect that I can’t praise more.

As for the second act, it is more debatable, since it was an act of vandalism against another’s artist work. I will come back to this issue soon. By now, we have to think about one of its consequences: it made the sim crash. Odyssey crashed during the Gate event, a four days long streaming between Odyssey and the iMAL Art Center in Bruxelles I helped organizing, an open stage for performance and interaction with a real life audience. And this is a problem.

At this point, another actor got into the drama. Sugar Seville is Odyssey’s manager. That means that she is responsible in front of the artists and the visitors of what happens on her island – and, in that particular occasion, she was responsible in front of iMAL and its audience. She contacted xdxd and she banned him from Odyssey. Good? Wrong? In my opinion, she did the right thing: that was her role in the drama. She had to protect herself, her place, her audience and her artists, and she did it. Xdxd’s work was an act of griefing – no matter if there was an artistic statement behind it.

Now Xdxd is playing the role of the victim on Rhizome: but that’s just the last development of a screenplay he wrote down from the very beginning. As he told me in a private conversation, the crash was part of this screenplay: “the crash caused by overload was part of the performance… It’s a criticism against the infrastructure (social, technological, perceptive), a criticism which included the server’s crash.” And he was happy when he was banned from Odyssey: complete success!

“People take themselves seriously on a platform that don’t let you to do it. You ban me from your own space in SL? I can come back whenever I want. How can you take seriously this thing? What does it mean?” This is Xdxd’s point. He wanted to demonstrate that, in virtual environments, you are never safe, you can’t preserve your own property, you can’t apply “the rules of property and commerce” which work well in real life. Did he succeed?

At the beginning I though, as Lee Wells does, that Xdxd simply chose the wrong target, and that his performance is more similar to real vandalism than to graffiti. But Xdxd’s words reminded me another similar artist’s performance, happened some years ago. In February 1999, 0100101110101101.ORG (yes, Eva and Franco Mattes) downloaded all the contents of another artist-run website (Hell.com) and uploaded them on their own website. Hell.com described itself as a “private parallel web”, closed to non invited visitors. Fighting against this kind of use of the web, 0100101110101101.ORG put online an “anticopyright version”, open to everyone. No matter who was right or wrong: two completely different visions of the Net were fighting against each other. Hell.com blamed 0100101110101101.ORG for theft and threatened them with an international lawsuit for copyright violation. This was good in two ways: because they had the right to do it and because, doing this, they successfully completed the drama written down by 0100101110101101.ORG.

Now a similar thing is happening. Two completely different visions of virtual worlds are fighting against each other. The first says that virtual life is completely different from real life, and that you can’t import in virtual worlds concepts such as property and business. Who minds if I vandalize an artwork? Com’on, its digital! Who minds if I break down a gallery’s window? They are just polygons!
The second claims that there is not so much difference between virtual and real life, maybe because our real life more and more relies on virtual laws; that property is valid also in virtual life, and that a criminal gesture is not less dangerous because it relies on an artistic statement; that things must be taken seriously in virtual worlds, because more and more people are taking them seriously.

Personally, I think that there are no such things as chimeras and truths. A chimera becomes the truth when enough people believe in it: that’s good for God, peace and democracy, and even for art: why it can’t be good for virtual lives? If most of the people believe that what they are doing in virtual worlds is REAL, it is. If most of the people think that vandalizing an artwork in Odyssey is like doing it in a real gallery, they are right. And Xdxd is wrong.

That said, I love recursiveness is a nice piece of art not because (as Xdxd says) of its relationship with other examples of provocative contemporary art, but because it raised a problem and a discussion. In the same time, Sugar did the right thing banning him from Odyssey, because she made the performance succeed; and she’ll do an even better thing readmitting him on Odyssey, as she suggests at the end of the chat. Because irresponsibility is for children and artists, and Xdxd is not a child. Maybe he is a crap artist (I don’t think so, indeed), but how many crap artists are in Second Life?

THE GATE (or Hole in Space, Reloaded)

The Gate is an installation connecting real life and Second Life, a junction point, a door between two worlds and two representation spaces. Basically, it is a simple window between both worlds where real users and SL users see each other and can meet. A view of the SL Gate is permanently projected in the real life venue; when an avatar comes in front of The Gate, it is visible in the public space; when one arrives physically in front of the door in the public space, he/she can interact with the SL user currently in front.

Installation connecting real life and Second Life

Authors: Yannick Antoine, Yves Bernard (BE)

Curatorial Assistance: Domenico Quaranta (IT), Sugar Seville (SL)

Opening Performance: Second Front

iMAL Center for Digital Cultures and Technology, Brussels; Odyssey Contemporary Art and Performance, Second Life (Odyssey 122/45/25)

04/10/07 – 07/10/07

Original press release

Official Website – http://www.imal.org/iMAL_opening/mac/index_en.html

Images:

- My Flickr set (with photos by me, Gazira Babeli and Sascha Pohflepp)

- Yhancik Hax’s Flickr Set

-  Alexia Cournoyer’s Flickr Set

- Photos by Emika Insoo

- Photos by Yannick Antoine

Videos:

- Video by Second Front (on Google Video)

Reviews:

Osprey, “Second Front at The Gate“, in Second Life Art News, October 5, 2007.

Marshall Sponder, “The Gate – merging Second Life with Real Life“, in WebMetricsGuru, September 30, 2007.

Sascha Pohflepp, “iMAL opening“, in we-make-money-not-art, October 8, 2007.

Astrid Girardeau, “iMAL, du numérique au coeur de Bruxelles“, in écrans, October 4, 2007.

Domenico Quaranta, “Open considerations on The Gate. Part 1“, in Digimag 29, November 07.

Domenico Quaranta, “Open considerations on The Gate. Part 2“, in Digimag 30, December 07.

The Gate (or Hole in Space, Reloaded)

THE GATE (or Hole in Space, Reloaded)

Yannick Antoine, Yves Bernard (BE)

With the collaboration of: Domenico Quaranta (IT), Sugar Seville (SL)

Opening Performance: Second Front

iMAL Center for Digital Cultures and Technology, Brussels; Odyssey Contemporary Art and Performance, Second Life (Odyssey 122/45/25)

04/10/07 – 07/10/07

The Gate is an installation connecting real life and Second Life, a junction point, a door between two worlds and two representation spaces. Basically, it is a simple window between both worlds where real users and SL users see each other and can meet. A view of the SL Gate is permanently projected in the real life venue; when an avatar comes in front of The Gate, it is visible in the public space; when one arrives physically in front of the door in the public space, he/she can interact with the SL user currently in front.

The result will be a kind of happening where the virtuality of SL is transferred in the physicality of our public space and vice-versa; a stage for performance and interaction, something between a breakdance platform, an inter-dimensional portal and a peep show through parallel universes.

The Gate has been designed for the opening show of iMAL new space in Brussels. The show explores the fusion between the physical world and the net through networked sculptures and installations which question the physical space as well as the digital world. Featured artists: Yannick Antoine (BE), Pascal Baltazar (FR), Justin Benett (UK), Yves Bernard (BE), Jonah Brucker-Cohen (USA), Mathieu Chamagne (FR), HC Gilje (NO), Linda Hifling (DK), Thomas Israël (BE), Sven König (DE), Walter Langelaar (NL), Sascha Pohflepp (DE), Antoine Schmitt (FR), SecondFront (Second Life), Walter Verdin (BE), Visual Kitchen & Eavesdropper (BE).

Perform from iMAL with people on Second Life

The Gate is installed on Odyssey, an island in Second Life dedicated to art and performance.
In the opening hours of iMAL (October 5 – 6, 11 AM – 7PM [2AM - 10AM SLT]; October 7, 10AM – 8PM [1AM - 11 PM SLT]), people, avatars and performance artists are kindly invited to come, perform and interact at The Gate, both in real life and in Second Life.
During the vernissage on October 4 (8:30 – 12 PM [11:30AM - 3PM SLT]) Second Front, the first performance art group in Second Life, will use The Gate as a in-between stage in front of iMAL visitors and SL passer-by.

Perform from The Gate in Second Life with visitors at iMAL

First create a free account in Second Life (http://secondlife.com/join) and run the software (http://secondlife.com/download)
Once you have this properly installed use this SLurl to teleport to Odyssey:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odyssey/122/45/25/

The Gate is installed on the beach of next to the teleport hub.

+++

iMAL, Center for Digital Cultures and Technology
30 Quai des Charbonnages/Koolmijnenkaai
1080 Bruxelles/Brussel

Odyssey Contemporary Art and Performance
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odyssey/122/45/25/

More informations:

http://www.imal.org/
http://odysseyart.ning.com/
http://slfront.blogspot.com/
http://www.domenicoquaranta.net/

Press Images:

http://www.imal.org/iMAL_opening/presse/high_reso_pict/the_gate_01.jpg
http://www.domenicoquaranta.net/imgs/thegate_press.jpg

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.

Artists:

Cory Arcangel (USA), Gazira Babeli (SL), Boredomresearch (UK), Christophe Bruno (FR), Grégory Chatonsky (FR), Miguel Chevalier (FR), Vuk Cosic (SLO), Shane Hope (USA), Jodi (BE/NL), Lab[au] (BE), Joan Leandre (SP), Olia Lialina & Dragan Espenschied (RU/DE), Golan Levin (USA), Eva and Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.ORG (IT), Alison Mealey (UK), Mark Napier (USA), Casey Reas (USA), Charles Sandison (UK/FI), Antoine Schmitt (FR), Yacine Sebti (BE), Alexei Shulgin & Aristarkh Chernyshev (RU), John F. Simon, Jr. (USA), Paul Slocum (USA), Wolfgang Staehle (USA), Eddo Stern (USA), Ubermorgen.com (AT), Carlo Zanni (IT).

Galleries:

Bitforms, New York; DAM Gallery, Berlin; Fabio Paris Art Gallery, Brescia; Numeriscausa, Paris; Postmasters, New York; Project Gentili, Prato; Rodolphe Janssen Gallery, Brussels; XL Gallery, Moscow.

Catalogue

Domenico Quaranta, Yves Bernard (eds), Holy Fire. Art of the Digital Age, FPEditions, Brescia 2008.

Hardcover, color, 128 pages. ISBN 978-88-903308-4-1, 25.00 €

Featuring 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, Christiane Paul, Domenico Quaranta, Charles Sandison, Magdalena Sawon & Tamas Banovich, Paul Slocum, Bruce Sterling, Michele Thursz, Mark Tribe, Ubermorgen.com, Karen A. Verschooren.

Selected press:

El Païs (spanish); we-make-money-not-art; Poptronics (french); Knack (Vlaamse); Rhizome; Report of the debate at Art Brussels, by Packed (Vlaamse); Digimag 34, May 2008 (italian); Nilo Casares, “El estado del collecionismo digital”, in ABC, supplemento “ABCD las artes y las letras”, Madrid, 10 maggio 2008 (spanish).

Images & video

Holy Fire on Flickr
Video of the iMAL opening (YouTube)
Holy Fire Remixed by artisopensource.net

Dowloads:

Press release (pdf, ita / eng)

Flyer (pdf, 1.500 KB)

Poster (pdf, 1800 KB)

Invitation (pdf, 480 KB)

Jodi, Geogoo, 2008

Published in “Flash Art”, Issue 273, December – January 2009, p. 36

Nel corso della sua storia, l’uomo ha tracciato sulla mappa del mondo forme, disegni, bizzarre geometrie. Da Nazca ai cerchi nel grano, dai piani urbanistici (si pensi a Washington) alle sagome di piazze e edifici, questi segni, carichi di simbologie mistiche ed esoteriche, sono l’alfabeto di un dialogo con un altro che raramente coincide con chi calpesta quei sentieri e con chi vive quei luoghi. L’uomo può pensarli, ma chi li vede? Dio, certo. Oppure l’uomo del futuro che manipola tecnologie affascinanti come Google Earth e Google Maps, la cui missione è “costruire un mondo allo specchio, una replica del mondo”, accessibile a tutti. Il geohacker è il flaneur del nuovo millennio, ed è, nel contempo, la nuova release dell’occhio di Dio. La sua deriva non ha limiti.
Su questi temi lavora Geo Goo, l’ultimo progetto del duo belga-olandese JODI (Joan Heemskerk e Dirk Paesmans). Jodi parte da una verifica molto locale, esplorando le implicazioni massoniche della geometria del Parc Royal di Bruxelles, costruito sulla forma del compasso (cerchio più triangolo). La sua verifica si svolge sia al livello del terreno, nelle forme tipiche dell’esplorazione psicogeografica, raccogliendo mappe, scoprendo analogie tra le forme, e lasciandosi alle spalle nuovi segni (come quello tracciato col chewing-gum sui muri di Dortrecht, e documentato nel booklet che accompagna il progetto); sia a quello della geolocalizzazione satellitare, attraverso un portentoso hacking di Google Maps che parte da Bruxelles per estendersi, in una serie di iterazioni, sull’intera mappa del mondo: rilevando e evidenziando geometrie analoghe, o servendosi di oceani e continenti come di una tela su cui tracciare i suoi segni e le sue geometrie.
Il progetto, nato in rete (geogoo.net) è stato lanciato con un’installazione mozzafiato all’iMAL di Bruxelles, efficace dimostrazione della straordinaria abilità degli autori nel muoversi tra piattaforme diverse. Mentre i loro graffiti geospaziali invadono le pareti, lo spazio espositivo si popola di oggetti che ne completano l’enigma: un plastico del parco, un tavolo triangolare su cui sono disposti 3 giradischi (cerchio + triangolo), un video verticale in cui le icone antropomorfe di Google Maps prendono vita in forma di inquietanti manichini senza occhi e senza volto. L’overload informativo si traduce in una valanga di codici e di simboli, non tutti decodificabili; e lo spazio dell’iMAL si trasforma in una sorta di officina metafisica, popolata di mappe, simboli e forme geometriche. Se non riusciamo a penetrare l’enigma, possiamo sempre contemplarne la bellezza, e prendere atto che i nuovi depositari del mistero sono coloro che, come Jodi, sono in grado di penetrare l’interfaccia della realtà, manipolarne i codici e rivoltarla come un guanto per mostrarcene la struttura informativa.

Flash Art – www.flashartonline.it
Geogoo (web project) – http://globalmove.us/
Geogoo (iMAL) – http://www.imal.org/GEOGOO/