DARC – General Direction for Contemporary Architecture and Art MAXXI - National Museum of the XXI Century Arts present NetSpace: Journey into Net Art: Bodies in Cyberspace :: December 4, 2007 - March 2, 2008 :: Opening: December 3, 2007; 12:00 pm MAXXI, via Guido Reni 2f, Rome.

Bodies in Cyberspace is the latest exhibition in the Netspace: Journey into Net Art, a series curated by Elena Giulia Rossi. The project was initiated by the Educational Service and set up with its support. Its aim is to offer the necessary tools to get acquainted with net art, the contemporary artistic art practice that uses the internet as its only creative tool.

Bodies in Cyberspace highlights the body and its dematerialisation in cyberspace. The creation of avatars, out-and-out virtual alter egos, allows for the shaping of new physiognomic characteristics and social identities specifically created for the net community. The six selected works investigate bodily metamorphosis in cyberspace and how “physicality” is moved beyond the screen, the birth of new identities, and the perception of the physical body as transformed through the ease with which technology can affect natural biological systems.

The selected works:

Scalpel (2003) by the French artist Nicolas Clauss is a multi-dimensional interactive painting. Loaded with pictorial references, this project is a reflection on mankind, on the human body, and on the self-awareness.

Big (2001) by the British artists Simon Fields and Katrina McPherson belongs to the “hyper-choreography” genre, an alternative approach to traditional choreography that employs digital technology and the internet to create interactive projects.

Portal (2003) by Yael Kanarek is a work of net.dance that combines the traditional techniques of screen design with digital interactivity. The project is the result of the collaboration of the artist with the choreographer Evann Siebens and the composer Yoav Gal. Portal is part of the larger project World of Awe. Commissioned by Turbulence.org

Bodydrome (2001) by the Italian artist Marcello Mazzella is an interactive body in the semblance of an imaginary airport that uses the metaphor of travelling to explore the connections between life, art, technology and science.

Elastic Body (2002) by the Japanese artist Yugo Nakamura is a graphic simulation of a flexible body obtained through the translation of the physical laws of the body’s flexibility into computer code.

Eisenstein’s Monster (2007) by the British artist Chris Joseph is an interactive video that recalls Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Sergei Eisenstein’s editing theories. It makes an ironic comment on the effects biotechnology has on mankind. You can create your own digital creature by building a mosaic of the various parts of the facial elements, thereby transforming biological elements into bio-digital ones.