Celebrating the Demon: Whitneybiennial.com two years later
Fargfabriken and Whitney Biennial
Celebrating the Demon:
Whitneybiennial.com two years later
Fargfabriken is proud to announce that the Whitneybiennial.com has been inaugurated on Friday the 12 March. Opening ceremony by Jan Aman, Miltos Manetas and Mai Ueda performing her Neen songs. Also present at the inauguration were, from New York specially invited, Neenstars Andreas Angelidakis and Angelo Plessas.
The project will be presented on location at Fargfabriken until March 28, after that it continues on the Internet. at www.whitneybiennial.com
On the occasion of the opening of the Whitney Biennial 2004: “The Best of Our Stuff against the Best of your Art.”
Miltos Manetas performed a presentation of the most beautiful websites in the world. These are selected websites from www.whitneybiennial.com 2002 and new works.
Miltos Manetas is always playing a game in his art. He plays with his own life and his role as an artist. He plays with the media, as he did two years ago when he presented the whitneybiennial.com for the first time, he plays with the structures and with the expected – to set things in motion. It is a risky business and a serious game, since it is based on the fact that Manetas wants the very opposite of doing another thing called “art” (in a situation where there already is an abundance of precisely that).
This is one of the reasons for his interest in the Internet. It is new (still). It is more open than an evaluating and regulated art world could ever be. Manetas is not interested in the technical side of the net. Not even the new expressions coming out of it is his primary interest. His energy is into how this new territory actually affects us. Internet marks the end of one-way communication. It no longer matter how much media you own or control. It no longer matters how big your institution is. To be relevant you need to convince the receiver, or system of receivers, that your message is relevant. That it is fresh. Otherwise you risk being ignored. You risk becoming an elephant. An easy target.
This is why the “art”, the “exhibition” and the “institution” may very well have more to do with setting boundaries and securing a system rather than opening up for new influences and possibilities. And this is the reason why we gave birth to an idea of celebrating the demon, of awakening the sleeping beauty, the Whitneybiennial.com two years later. This is why we now have inaugurated our own biennial. There were more work to show. New works. And there is a story to be told. Something to experience and reflect upon. It is as fresh as ever. The elephants are still there. But so is the beauty of the gesture. That very disturbing gesture
Celebrating the Demon is project curated by Fargfabriken and The Electronic Orphanage.
For more information and footage of the inauguration please visit our website www.fargfabriken.se
