Contemporary Art 
Eva and Franco Mattes. 0100101110101101.org
Eva and Franco Mattes. 0100101110101101.org |
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Artists: Eva and Franco Mattes Authors: Domenico Quaranta, Bruce Sterling, RoseLee Goldberg, Wu Ming, Fabio Cavallucci, Maurizio Cattelan, Joline Blais, Jon Ippolito, Tilman Baumgartel, Matthew Mirapaul, Marco Deseriis Format: 14.5 x 21 cm Pages: 144 Binding: paperback Illustrations: 243 including 200 in color Year: 2009 Edition: English ISBN 978-88-8158-726-1 |
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Price: €29.00
Discounted Price: €14.50 You Save: 50.00% |
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| Featuring previously unseen works, the book you are holding is the first official monograph on the artists Eva and Franco Mattes, aka 0100101110101101.ORG. Over the last ten years, the Mattes have manipulated video games, Internet technologies, feature films and street advertising to reveal truths concealed by contemporary society. They have created media facades believable enough to elicit embarrassing reactions from governments, the public and the art world, and they have orchestrated several unpredictable mass performances, staged outside art spaces and involved unwitting audiences in scenarios that mingle truth and falsehood to the point of being indistinguishable. This book brings together all these exploits, including the anecdotes, indictments and controversies that have always accompanied them. At the same time, the book goes beyond the scope of an official biography, revealing the couple’s very first (and until now undisclosed) work: Stolen Pieces. Over two years, 1995-97, they toured the world’s most important museums and stole dozens of fragments from well-known works by artists such as Duchamp, Kandinsky, Beuys and Rauschenberg. This work, which has remained a secret for 14 years, is revealed and discussed here for the very first time. This unique book is a combination of history and fiction, criticism and plagiarism, jesting and journalism. |
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Artist biography: Eva and Franco Mattes are the Italian
artist-provocateurs behind the infamous website
0100101110101101.ORG. Since meeting in
Madrid in 1994 they have never separated, living
a nomadic life throughout Europe and the US.
Neither of them received a proper art education.
Among the pioneers of the Net Art movement,
they are renowned for their masterful subversion
of public media. They first gained notoriety by
snagging the domain name Vaticano.org (1998)
in order to undermine the Catholic Church’s official
website. They then went on a cloning spree,
copying and remixing other artists’ works,
targeting “closed” websites, and turning private
art into public art – transforming exclusive property
into common culture.
Over time the Mattes have turned from virtual to
physical space for their surreal artistic interventions.
They caught the mainstream art world with its
pants down with the invention of Darko Maver:
this reclusive, radical artist achieved cult status and
was featured in the Venice Biennale before turning
out to be pure fiction.
Their superbly off-the-wall performances – that
have caused them several lawsuits – include
affixing fake architectural heritage plaques
(An Ordinary Building, 2006), rolling out a media
campaign for a non-existent action movie (United
We Stand, 2005) and even convincing the people
of Vienna that Nike had purchased the city’s
historic Karlsplatz and was about to rename it
“Nikeplatz” (Nike Ground, 2003).
Their art has been featured at the Venice Biennale
(2001), the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2001),
Manifesta, Frankfurt (2002) and in various venues
worldwide, including the New Museum, New York
(2005), Collection Lambert, Avignon (2006)
and Performa, New York (2007 and 2009). |
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