Exhibition / Museum
Sans objet
9 œuvres abstraites pour le navigateur Internet
19 May - 21 Nov 2021
The event is over
Miltos Manetas, « jacksonpollock.org », 2005 © D.R.
At a time when digital art is more popular than ever, the Centre Pompidou is dedicating its first online exhibition, “Not Applicable”, to this art form. The exhibition focuses on nine emblematic artists from the 1990s to the present day: Annie Abrahams, Claude Closky, Juha van Ingen, Carin Klonowski, Jan Robert Leegte, Jonas Lund, Miltos Manetas, Rafael Rozendaal and Nicolas Sassoon.
Ace
Miltos Manetas, « jacksonpollock.org », 2005 © D.R.
Both a frame and an “open window" that reveals their content, Internet browsers are in many ways similar to the canvas. The use of vocabulary connected with exploration and the environment (from “Netscape” to Internet “Explorer”) reflects their primary aim of providing an interface with the outside world. However, they have often been subverted by artists to produce purely abstract artworks that are devoid of any reference to the things around us. “Not Applicable” - in reference to its intangible character, the concept of abstraction and computer vocabulary - begins on the Centre Pompidou's website and invites the user to click through to nine online works.
The visitor is invited to go to the original URL of the work and look at or interact with it in the conditions designed by the artist. Like in a traditional exhibition, the user can browse from one work to another but this time with no labels or showcases.
From the interactive experience by Miltos Manetas, which invites the spectator to create works in the style of Jackson Pollock with a few strokes of the mouse, to Claude Closky's Rectangulaire that uses the user’s contributions to produce personalised works, the visitor is invited to experiment with the different possibilities offered by these digital art forms.
