In the contemporary art context Re.act 2017 will work as a laboratory for the resident artists to explore the paradigma of being in a different layer, entering a specific place lost in space and time in relation to the social contemporary scenario. In a context of transformation of human perception influenced by the digital innovations of our society, a dialogue is created between the post-digital era and the organic essence of our natural being, immersed in an electronic environment. Those elements symbiotically contribute to drive the body to its ancient basic elements of human existence although constantly perceived by technology. The “digital act” contrasts and coexists with our human nature in an eternal cross communication. The continuous influence of our own accelerated pace, propagates in a new paradigm of new media and digital realities that alters our perception of time, space and reality, in contrast to the availability of a sensory contemplation.
In the fast-paced frenzy that drives our contemporary societies, where thoughts and impulses are beamed by way of artificial communication and express the paramount need to scroll through the snippets of information that make up the latest trends, the current post-digital, new-media generation is faced with the unprecedented shift from direct life experience to an artificial way of connecting/disconnecting with the natural/analogical world. This loss of sensorial reference and contemplation is increasingly contributing to distance human beings from the elements of the natural world. In this dazzling new reality, the pictorial tradition of landscape painting no longer seems apt to capture the intricate web of new significations emerging from cityscapes in the age of the global city. In an archipelago In the middle of the Atlantic, connected to the idea of Atlantis, described by Plato, 8 contemporary artist shall work inside this matrix in a dialogue between matter/non-mater and in permanent laboratory in a apparently neutral territory for exploration and co-relations between different layers of reality and post-reality.
Antonio Bokel – Gabriela Maciel – Gioia Di Girolamo -Maurizio Vicerè -Ivan Divanto – Patric Sandri – Paulo Arraiano – Paulo Ávila Sousa
There is a remarkable fascination with ideas of ancient civilizations that may have inhabited the Azores. Perhaps the notion of ancient civilizations also brings to light the idea of a catastrophic event that seized the life of highly advanced beings. Taking this starting point and creating a correlation with his artistic and technological practice, Ivan Divanto (Italy) did two stages of work. One is a photograph of the local public statue of Vasco da Gama (with virtual reality glasses and in glowing pop blue and violet light). The discoverer of the past is, in this way, transformed into a future visionary being. Afterwards the artist used 3D devices to freely photograph and perceive nature without human interaction. The visual output shows a complete discrepancy between machine and human perception – a green plant becomes a moving image of white shards, while a forest landscape is transformed into what appears to be a blue satellite view.
Catarina Vaz on Art Research Map