Itaú Cultural,
Aug 11, 2004 - Oct 13, 2004
São Paulo, Brazil
Artificial Emotions 2.0
by Virginia Gil Araujo
With some works taking up to forty minutes to conclude there was, all of a sudden, an entertaining and informative work for impatient audiences to interact with. Keeping with the proposal of experience and participation, and beyond the predominantly dark space of the projection cube, the work L’Mito: Zapping Zone contrasts technology with pop and kitsch in a démodé environment, full of objects associated with a series of celebrities which may be read through bar codes. Such diffuse and funny aesthetics were broadcast at the show’s entrance by neon billboards that evidence mass culture extravagance turning celebrities into consumer products. Similarly, Diana Domingues’ and Grupo Artecno’s (from Universidade de Caxias do Sul) work mocks consumerism as it explains it as the "lost link of current times".
Lastly, I should mention the discursive historical core, and within it the major presence of Fred Forest (France) with his Un Musée d’Artiste en Ligne, as well as Anne-Marie Duguet’s coordinated DVD, Muntadas: Media, Architecture, Installations.
We must take into account that although the Artificial Emotion 2.0 Biennale is a timely initiative, it still must perfect its basic social aim, that of audiences access to all the works, on both the practical and theoretical level as well as with better and more efficient equipment maintenance - an ever-present problem at Brazilian art and technology exhibitions.
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