It is possible to find some analogies between the concrete spatial dimension and the intangible net dimension. Both dimensions are places where you can act and interact with peculiar temporal characteristics and similar relational dynamics.
By means of new technologies the physical and virtual space have the possibility to influence each others. We are nowadays so used to live this space-temporal superimposition that sometimes we don’t recognize the borderlines between the two worlds.
Site Specific @ Web is a collective exhibition, organized by Corrado Mora , and hosted at the web site www.sitespecific.it . This is the first event promoted by Site Specific , which is a no-profit organization aimed at being a platform to spread, on the territory and on the web, site-specific works of art, i.e. projects created for some specific places they are related to.
During this exhibition artists face up to the spatial-temporal characteristics of the net; a virtual place where the individual territory is mixed up with the social territory, and where global and local are connected.
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Site Specific @ Web has been divided into two appointments: at the first vernissage held 8 th April 2006 the works of art by Riccardo Benassi, Alessandro Capozzo, Fausto Gilberti, Laurina Paperina e Laura Viale were presented. At the second virtual exhibition Saturday 29 th April 2006 were presented the works of art by ConiglioViola, ELASTIC Group of Artistic Research, Chiara Passa ed Alex Pinna . The artist CasaluceGeiger were there in both the occasions.
The perception inside the virtual world change notably from artist to artist and techniques and expressive styles are very heterogeneous: from static images to animations, videos and software programming. The different interpretations has digital technology in common only.
There’s an obvious great difference of poetics chosen, let’s just take into consideration two works of art which are very different one to the other: Code-Specific by Alessandro Capozzo and Zoogno by ConiglioViola.
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Code-Specific by Alessandro Capozzo is characterized by an essential and linear environment which is generated by a software created by the artist himself. Code-Specific is an hypnotic program analyzing itself and then giving a spatial representation of this self-analysis process. Visualization recalls an architectonical place based on the same logical constructions of the program. With this inexistent-in-reality place is possible to interact by pressing two keys.
The athmosphere of Zoogno by ConiglioViola is totally different. The animation shows a magic world with a surrealist aesthetic, modifying itself as “its” time goes by. This work of art fully reflects the duo production. They usually mix up genres creating a hybrid aesthetic that recalls more traditional artistic forms by digital means (obviously).
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The only work of art which will remain during the whole event course is the blog Synusi@openingmob-blog by CasaluceGeiger (synusi @ virus cyborg). A work connected to the concept of production of memory, a work in progress.
Site Specific has also organized the IndexPage Competition 2006 , for artist and designers using digital languages that will come up at the publication of Site Specific @ Web index page and the possibility for the winner to gain a monographic space in the web site extras. The jury composed by Tatiana Bazzichelli, Mauro Ceolin, Corrado Mora, Domenico Quaranta and Valentina Tanni, awarded ex aequo Hans Bernhard (ÜBERMORGEN.COM), with Psychotropic Drugs Karaoke , and MEZ (Mary-Anne Breeze), with _ID.Xorcism _. Successively edited into two different inaugurations.
Stéphanie Boisset had a mention of honour for the web design of her sitespecific, characterized by an essential and simple graphic.
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Fra i due lavori vincitori, il primo ad essere pubblicato è stato Psychotropic Drug Karaoke di Hans Bernhard ; opera che consiste in un blog dalla grafica asciutta e minimalista, dove l’artista viennese pubblica post che informano sulle dosi di psicofarmaci che è costretto ad assumere quotidianamente, dopo l’esaurimento nervoso connesso alla sua attività in Internet. Ogni messaggio scritto è accompagnato da un pezzo musicale metal core, dove le parole cantate sono il contenuto del post pubblicato. Psychotropic Drug Karaoke , con questa proiezione dello stato fisico personale sul territorio pubblico di un blog, mette in evidenza quale peso possa avere sulla nostra esistenza quotidiana, la vita all’interno della rete. L’opera è connessa a Psych|OS , una serie di lavori dello stesso artista, che riflettono sull’influenza che la tecnologia può avere sugli stati psichici.
L’altro primo posto è dell’artista australiana MEZ con _ID Xorcism_, un’opera legata alla percezione dell’identità all’interno dello spazio della rete. Il poema, composto da parole e immagini che scorrono orizzontalmente, sembra poter svelare qualcosa sull’identità dell’artista; ma invece confonde, con il suo inesorabile flusso, e con le multiple apparizioni che richiamano un’estetica cyberpunk anni ’90. L’identità, intesa come cosa immutabile, all’interno dello spazio virtuale viene così “esorcizzata”. Il lavoro è stato creato utilizzando il “mezangelle”, un linguaggio ibrido, creato dalla stessa artista, che combina forme del linguaggio umano con codice HTML e altri linguaggi informatici come il Perl.
Le opere del primo e del secondo appuntamento si uniranno online nel finissage di sabato 20 Maggio 2006.