[spectre] The art, my friend, is flowing in the wind | The Invisible Pavilion

[Guy McMusker]

Art Biennale 2011
04.06 27.11
Giardini | Venice

The Invisible Pavilion | 54th International Art Exhibition | Venice Biennale

Following the official launch of the Invisible Pavilion—timed with the
inauguration of the 54th Venice Biennale on 1st June—today marks the
inauguration of the on-line Pavilion, featuring a non-stop stream of
data to accompany the exhibition until its end in November.

A REAL, UBIQUITOUS, IMAGINARY PAVILION
Constant progress in technology, the eternal present, and questionable
fakes are what characterise the world of media today, and its
borderline approach with one foot in institutions, and the other foot
out. Next to the Biennale, the Invisible Pavilion represents the
oxymoron that lies in ‘virtual reality’, a sign of the progressive
dematerialization of our society, the possibility of taking action on
our own, and a reflection, ultimately, on horizontal participation,
the eternal utopia of the Internet.

BETWEEN THE SIGN, ALTERATION AND HALLUCINATION
Nine Artists have been invited to contribute to the pavilion project,
performing in the space of the Biennale with their own stream of works
during the whole period of the exhibition. What these  artists have in
common, and hence the reason why they were invited to take part, is
their focus on challenging the way we perceive reality, through the
conscious, derisive, and highly critical use of new media. The
invitation to contribute to the Invisible Pavilion represented yet
another chance for them to make a statement on the art industry and
its contradictions, within the context of the Biennale. Within the
folds of the invisible tesseract, they have reinvented reality through
interference and superimposition (as is the case in “Bleamish” by
CONTEXT.NET and in “Invisible Watermark” by Constant Dullaart), marked
their presence in the squatted areas of the Biennale (Parker Ito),
adapted their works to the context, giving them new visibility and new
spatiality (such as, for instance, with Jon Rafman’s “Brand New Paint
Job” and Artie Vierkant’s “Solvent Studies” and “Image Objects”),
shifted the focus on the effects and hallucinations provoked by
technology (as in the “Augmented Reality Drug” by REFF - RomaEuropa
FakeFactory and in “Monument to the Banana Revolution” by Les Liens
Invisibles), and created art interventions specially designed for the
occasion (“Show Me Your Digitals” by IOCOSE, and “Augmented
Perspectives” by Molleindustria).

The stream derived from their works—a space-time continuum extending
across the Internet and the real world—can be seen directly in the
exhibition spaces of the Venice Biennale through the Layar app
(www.layar.com) for iPhones and Android devices, and on-line at

www.theinvisiblepavilion.com/flow

The art, my friend, is flowing in the wind.


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The Invisible Pavilion is a project by Les Liens Invisibles and Simona Lodi
with the collaboration of great artists
(www.theinvisiblepavilion.com/artists) such as Artie Vierkant,
Constant Dullaart, CONT3XT.NET, IOCOSE, Jon Rafman, Molleindustria,
Parker Ito, REFF–RomaEuropa FakeFactory.

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LINKS AND REFERENCES
website
www.theinvisiblepavilion.com

How the pavilion works
www.theinvisiblepavilion.com/how-it-works

curatorial text by Simona Lodi
www.theinvisiblepavilion.com/press/curatorial-statement.pdf

Hi-res pictures
www.theinvisiblepavilion.com/press/pictures.zip

In cooperation with Manifest.AR International Cyberartist Group
(www.manifestar.info)
BIO
Simona Lodi, art critic and curator, lives in Turin. Since 1993 she
has been a contributor to various leading contemporary art journals.
Simona's professional career spans New York, London and Turin—a city
that has embraced the world of new technology and communication. It is
in this context that the Share Festival–Art in the Digital Age, of
which Simona is founder and Art Director, has found fertile ground to
grow and develop.

Les Liens Invisibles (www.lesliensinvisibles.org) is an Italian-based
duo of internet artists, Clemente Pestelli and Gionatan Quintini. Most
of their artworks—which include an online viral mass suicide
performance, an hallucinatory petition service and a series of other
works staged on popular social media platforms—have been exhibited
internationally in galleries, museums (MAXXI Rome, New School of New
York, KUMU Art Museum of Talinn) and international media art festivals
(SHARE, Transmediale). Les Liens Invisibles recently received an
honorary distinction at the Transmediale Media Art Festival (2011).



-- 
Guy McMusker
Les Liens Invisibles
www.lesliensinvisibles.org