Offline/Online

Ever since a human being drew a picture of a bison on a wall of a cave thousands of years ago, art has been a simulacrum of reality as well as an instrument to guarantee survival (may the bison become real!). Driven by a strong desire and a deep need to tell (their own) truth, artists have used a huge variety of tools and materials to replay the surrounding world. With progressive growth, year after year, these tools and instruments have taken on a digital nature. And that should not be surprising.

But what about the exhibition space which is there to construct an encounter between the viewer and the artwork? How digital can it go? Please answer this question once you have experienced this exhibition.

You are entering Offline/Online, a hybrid space in which the real and the virtual cohabit in a constant 111 11 dialogue about the “body” of an artwork – its limitations and extensions. These works on display are here to be doubly enjoyed: in the way their /II physicality affects the viewer’s mind and soul (“A thing of beauty is a joy forever…”) and in the sense of the access and closeness that the object’s digital double brings in the familiar space of the touch screen and the 3-D room.

Work after work, keep asking two questions: 1) Does it look like the real thing? 2) Does it look real? Mind the gap between them! Just remember, technology can surprise, but it is art that awakes.