Muzeul National de Arta Contemporanea

Error 404

27 Apr - 08 Oct 2017

Pipilotti Rist
(Entlastungen) Pipilottis Fehler <(Absolutions) Pipilotti’s Mistakes>
1988 (video still)
© Pipilotti Rist, Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Luhring Augustine
Klaus Obermaier
FACELESS (2017), performance still
© Klaus Obermaier
Courtesy of the artist
ERROR 404
Territories Of Absence
27 April – 08 October 2017

Curator: Horea Avram

Artists: Alexandru Antik (RO), Gary Hill (US), Kinema Ikon (RO), Mihaela Kavdanska (RO/BG/AT),Yann Le Guennec (FR), Klaus Obermaier (AT), Pipilotti Rist (CH), Dilma Yordanova (RO/BG)

Error 404 is the message received by internet users when trying to access a broken website or a corrupted page link. The phrase Error 404 acquires here a rather metaphorical sense, “error” being not only the sign of a system failure, but, as the subtitle indicates, the mark of possible Territories of Absence. The latter indicates the absence of a functional and communication space, of information itself, whether they are part of the real world or the virtual realm.

However, this absence is not a lack but rather a temporary suspension of presence. The artworks included in this research-exhibition project deal with the idea of error, blur, glitch and absence equally in a concrete way (i.e. technical, formal, visual) and in a conceptual sense, pointing to the (im)possibility of representation, communication and bodily interaction in situ. The reference to technological vocabulary is no coincidence as all the works selected are based in a way or another on media technology such as interactive systems, video installations, one channel video, digital print etc.

Klaus Obermaier’s FACELESS multimedia performance will take place in the framework of the exhibition at 8 pm. FACELESS explores the visual and symbolic potential of the human face within a layered and textured sonic electronic environment. Obermaier deepens his experiments with the technological transformations of the body up to total alienation, through the use of various techniques of glitch, blur, fragmented representation, and digital voice manipulations. FACELESS uses some of the real-time techniques of the interactive installation VISAGE R-0-R presented in the Error 404. Territories of Absence exhibition. (Horea Avram)
 

Tags: Gary Hill, Pipilotti Rist