Maurizio Bolognini
Encyclopedia
Maurizio Bolognini is an Italian post-conceptual
artist. His installations explore the potential and implications of new media
technologies starting from the minimal and abstract activation of processes that are beyond artist's control, at the crossroads between generative art
, public art
and e-democracy
.
, Italy. Before working as a media artist, he received degrees in urban planning
and social sciences
from the University of Birmingham
, UK, and the University IUAV of Venice
. He later worked extensively as a researcher in the field of structured communication techniques (such as the real-time Delphi method
), and to their application to electronic democracy. His research interests and a wide range of artworks have focused on three main dimensions of digital technologies:
— the possibility of delegating creative functions to generative devices, such as in his Programmed Machines series. From the beginning (1988), this series introduced the concept of infinity into his work, and focused on "the experience of the disproportion (and disjunction) between artist and the artwork, which is made possible by computer-based technologies";
— the space-time flows of technological communication, and the interplay of geographical and electronic space, which gave rise to works such as Altavista (1996), Antipodes (1998), and Museophagia (1998–99), in which the use of web-based communication flows focused on their physical infrastructure and was often combined with actions taken over long distance travels;
— the introduction of new forms of interactivity
based upon structured communication techniques and e-democracy, which he used in installations such as the CIMs (Collective Intelligence Machines, since 2000) and ICB (Interactive Collective Blue, 2006).
Some of these works were developed through intense cooperation with Artmedia
, the Laboratory of the Aesthetics of Media and Communication, founded in 1985 at the University of Salerno
, and the Laboratory Museum of Contemporary Art (MLAC), Sapienza University of Rome. In 2003 Domenico Scudero, the MLAC curator, published a monograph book on Bolognini’s work. In 2004 Artmedia
organized a show, curated by its director Mario Costa
, theorist of the "technological sublime
", who aimed to highlight a European tendency in new media art. The show, held at the Sannio Museum, presented works by Roy Ascott
(English), Maurizio Bolognini (Italian), Fred Forest
(French), Richard Kriesche (Austrian) and Mit Mitropoulos (Greek).
The Programmed Machines series (and in particular the Sealed Computers, since 1992, whose monitor buses are closed with wax and whose graphic outputs cannot be displayed) is considered one of his most significant works. These Machines were exhibited in many museums and art galleries, in Europe and the United States. In 2003 some sixty Machines were exhibited in three simultaneous shows arranged at the Laboratory Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, the CACTicino Center for Contemporary Art in Switzerland, and the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center in New York. In 2005 the Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art, Genoa, dedicated a retrospective and a monograph to these works.
Since 2000 Bolognini has concentrated on combining the Programmed Machines with communication devices, as in the Collective Intelligence Machines series. These are interactive installations connecting some of his generative machines to the mobile telephone network, to allow a real-time Delphi-like interaction by members of the public. These installations delegate choices to both electronic devices and processes of communication and e-democracy with the aim of involving the audience in new forms of “generative, interactive and public art”.
Maurizio Bolognini's work is considered relevant to the theory of the "technological sublime
" and the aesthetics of flux (as opposed to the aesthetics of form), and has been seen as a further development of conceptual art
within new media art.
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
artist. His installations explore the potential and implications of new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
technologies starting from the minimal and abstract activation of processes that are beyond artist's control, at the crossroads between generative art
Generative art
Generative art refers to art that has been generated, composed, or constructed in an algorithmic manner through the use of systems defined by computer software algorithms, or similar mathematical or mechanical or randomised autonomous processes....
, public art
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
and e-democracy
E-democracy
E-democracy refers to the use of information technologies and communication technologies and strategies in political and governance processes...
.
Background
Maurizio Bolognini was born in BresciaBrescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
, Italy. Before working as a media artist, he received degrees in urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
and social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
from the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
, UK, and the University IUAV of Venice
University Iuav of Venice
Iuav University of Venice is a university located in Venice, northern Italy. It was founded in 1926 and is organized in 3 faculties....
. He later worked extensively as a researcher in the field of structured communication techniques (such as the real-time Delphi method
Delphi method
The Delphi method is a structured communication technique, originally developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of experts.In the standard version, the experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds...
), and to their application to electronic democracy. His research interests and a wide range of artworks have focused on three main dimensions of digital technologies:
— the possibility of delegating creative functions to generative devices, such as in his Programmed Machines series. From the beginning (1988), this series introduced the concept of infinity into his work, and focused on "the experience of the disproportion (and disjunction) between artist and the artwork, which is made possible by computer-based technologies";
— the space-time flows of technological communication, and the interplay of geographical and electronic space, which gave rise to works such as Altavista (1996), Antipodes (1998), and Museophagia (1998–99), in which the use of web-based communication flows focused on their physical infrastructure and was often combined with actions taken over long distance travels;
— the introduction of new forms of interactivity
Interactivity
In the fields of information science, communication, and industrial design, there is debate over the meaning of interactivity. In the "contingency view" of interactivity, there are three levels:...
based upon structured communication techniques and e-democracy, which he used in installations such as the CIMs (Collective Intelligence Machines, since 2000) and ICB (Interactive Collective Blue, 2006).
Some of these works were developed through intense cooperation with Artmedia
Artmedia
Artmedia, Seminar and Laboratory of the Aesthetics of Media and Communication, was one of the first scientific projects concerning the relationship between art, technology, philosophy and aesthetics. It was founded in 1985 at the University of Salerno...
, the Laboratory of the Aesthetics of Media and Communication, founded in 1985 at the University of Salerno
University of Salerno
The University of Salerno is a university located in Salerno, Italy. It is organized in 10 Faculties.-History:Salerno, a city in which, as Michelet said, “emperors, kings, popes, and the richest barons all had their own doctor”, developed during the Middle Ages around its prestigious School of...
, and the Laboratory Museum of Contemporary Art (MLAC), Sapienza University of Rome. In 2003 Domenico Scudero, the MLAC curator, published a monograph book on Bolognini’s work. In 2004 Artmedia
Artmedia
Artmedia, Seminar and Laboratory of the Aesthetics of Media and Communication, was one of the first scientific projects concerning the relationship between art, technology, philosophy and aesthetics. It was founded in 1985 at the University of Salerno...
organized a show, curated by its director Mario Costa
Mario Costa (philosopher)
Mario Costa is an Italian philosopher. He is known for his studies of the consequences of new technology in art and aesthetics, which introduced a new theoretical perspective through concepts such as the "communication aesthetics", the "technological sublime", the "communication block", and the...
, theorist of the "technological sublime
Sublime (philosophy)
In aesthetics, the sublime is the quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual or artistic...
", who aimed to highlight a European tendency in new media art. The show, held at the Sannio Museum, presented works by Roy Ascott
Roy Ascott
Roy Ascott is a British artist and theorist, who works with cybernetics and telematics. He is President of the Planetary Collegium.- Biography :...
(English), Maurizio Bolognini (Italian), Fred Forest
Fred Forest
Fred Forest is a French new media artist making use of video, photography, the printed press, mail, radio, television, telephone, telematics, and the internet in a wide range of installations, performances, and public interventions that explore both the ramifications and potential of media space...
(French), Richard Kriesche (Austrian) and Mit Mitropoulos (Greek).
Programmed machines
In 1988 Bolognini began using personal computers to generate a flux of continuously expanding random images. In the 1990s, he programmed hundreds of these computers and left them to run ad infinitum (most of these are still working). About his Programmed Machines he wrote: "I do not consider myself an artist who creates certain images, and I am not merely a conceptual artist. I am one whose machines have actually traced more lines than anyone else, covering boundless surfaces. I am not interested in the formal quality of the images produced by my installations but rather in their flow, their limitlessness in space and time, and the possibility of creating parallel universes of information made up of kilometres of images and infinite trajectories. My installations serve to generate out-of-control infinities."The Programmed Machines series (and in particular the Sealed Computers, since 1992, whose monitor buses are closed with wax and whose graphic outputs cannot be displayed) is considered one of his most significant works. These Machines were exhibited in many museums and art galleries, in Europe and the United States. In 2003 some sixty Machines were exhibited in three simultaneous shows arranged at the Laboratory Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, the CACTicino Center for Contemporary Art in Switzerland, and the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center in New York. In 2005 the Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art, Genoa, dedicated a retrospective and a monograph to these works.
Since 2000 Bolognini has concentrated on combining the Programmed Machines with communication devices, as in the Collective Intelligence Machines series. These are interactive installations connecting some of his generative machines to the mobile telephone network, to allow a real-time Delphi-like interaction by members of the public. These installations delegate choices to both electronic devices and processes of communication and e-democracy with the aim of involving the audience in new forms of “generative, interactive and public art”.
Maurizio Bolognini's work is considered relevant to the theory of the "technological sublime
Sublime (philosophy)
In aesthetics, the sublime is the quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual or artistic...
" and the aesthetics of flux (as opposed to the aesthetics of form), and has been seen as a further development of conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
within new media art.
See also
- Conceptual artConceptual artConceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
- Generative artGenerative artGenerative art refers to art that has been generated, composed, or constructed in an algorithmic manner through the use of systems defined by computer software algorithms, or similar mathematical or mechanical or randomised autonomous processes....
- New Media ArtNew media artNew media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
- Public artPublic artThe term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
- Systems artSystems artSystems art is art influenced by cybernetics, and systems theory, which reflects on natural systems, social systems and social signs of the art world itself....
- Electronic artElectronic artElectronic art is a form of art that makes use of electronic media or, more broadly, refers to technology and/or electronic media. It is related to information art, new media art, video art, digital art, interactive art, internet art, and electronic music...
- InteractivityInteractivityIn the fields of information science, communication, and industrial design, there is debate over the meaning of interactivity. In the "contingency view" of interactivity, there are three levels:...