ROKOLECTIV INTERVALS OF ATTENTION
As part of the “Intervals of Attention” project, Rokolectiv commissioned ten artists to play with already existing web video formats and performativity in the context of the attention economy.
For “Intervals of Attention”, Rokolectiv commissioned ten artists to play with already existing web video formats and performativity in the context of the attention economy. The online exhibition features video works by Nona Inescu, Maria Guță & Lauren Huret, Yun Lee, Jimmy Robert, marksmara, Colin Self, Ion Dumitrescu, Cyber Jaya and Stine Janvin. The online is a medium in itself with its very own specificity so a transfer of the physical into the digital is by nature impossible. Adaptation in natural systems is a key factor of survival, it’s more about resilience than resistance. With this project, we are trying not to simply replicate the same models into the digital, avoiding simulations of the real. We were a bit reluctant to do live streams at specific hours online, as the web has a different time. Actually, the internet has no time at all. You need to have all information, all access available at any time. On the other hand, the online is also unlike the television you watch these days (you need a lot of cash to make proper “tv shows”). It can function at most as an extension of the white cube / black box or you can use existing formats. The art world discovered in 2020 that it had an internet connection, with some laughable effects and forced transferences. One needs some different tools to capture attention on screens or at home. This project is mostly about performativity and the online, with strategies to adapt artistic content to the medium rather than the other way around (as we have been bombarded the whole year with live streams of physical shows that nobody is watching). Performativity is a key factor of the attention economy. Some of the invited artists come from performance art, some come from different backgrounds and did not necessarily work before with the internet as a medium, so their challenge was to take on existing web video formats. Seeing where the online media, social or not, is going, and with the algorithms (at least the Western ones) seemingly turning “more stupid”, maybe our next online project will have to be shown exclusively on TikTok. All ten videos are available here.
Among the ten contributions, we have to mention “The Soothsayings of Iris”, the first collaboration between Swiss based artists Lauren Huret and Maria Guță. Based on the 73 Questions Vogue format, this prophetic satire is an interview with a fictive character, a mash-up of several intriguing public figures that populate our networks.
Nona Inescu’s “Origene (Unboxing)” has its starting point in the controversial process of de-extinction, also known as species revivalism or resurrection biology, by which an organism which is either extinct or resembles an extinct species is restored, mostly by cloning it.
In “Sungazing with Cyber Jaya”, the eminent tech guru guides users on a journey of evolutionary transformation connecting to the most fundamental energy source: the sun.
Inspired by their research in microbiology, MarksMara uses microscopic footage as medium for a wide array of content. In “Group Chat”, the format of a teleconference hosts fragmented and disrupted conversations between micro-characters, mirroring equally and increasingly incohesive discourse on the macro scale.
