Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1256426
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 JUNE 2020 5 THIS WEEK ART explored the tension between the tan- gible and the digital. This cross-realm codependency leads to an entangled ex- istence of both, merging into a singular reality in an energy-demanding world. In the exhibition, we looked at digital relics, future digital fossils, data flow, the body within the digital, conversations between nature and machines, and a place for hu- man-ness inside an algorithmically cus- tomised reality. Out of 120 submissions, I have selected 26 artists from five continents – although I have never listed their geographical lo- cation, as their response to the brief was universally human, regardless of their location. The works had unity in their response and although some might have looked unfitting to one another, the visual aspect is not the only area where the sto- ry was told. I wanted to tell the story of global concern, anxiety and critical con- sideration of our relationship with the digital, whether it's the body of colour or the trans body, or a human relationship via dating apps, but also with digital relics and digital materiality. The show covers a few aspects of this relationship with the digital. Some artists like Enzo Piantanida, Ingrid Kristensen Bjørnaali, Victoria West and Ayşegül Altunok responded to the issue of nature, resources and the digital. Santa France, Redgrits, Eda Sarman, Vitoria Cribb and Enrico Dedin's works looked at the post-digital body by paying attention to the physical within the digital, from the body of colour to out of body experienc- es. Another aspect of the exhibition was exploring digital materiality with works by JPEG Bolton, FBRZ VLL, Milos Peskir, Kornelia Remø Klokk, Mustafa Khan- bhai, Erica Jewell, Bailey Keogh and Chen Varsano. Online spatiality was an aspect that Ivana Tkalčić, Julio Guzmàn, Mez Breeze, Noviki, Yvonne Libenson, Ultra- glix worked with, each in their own way. Some artists are further in their career than others, but I feel their responses were unified and unique nonetheless. The aspect of human relationships was an ar- ea explored by quite a few artists, such as by Zander Porter, Ex.Icon, Sandra Araujo and Charlene Galea. To place the works in the context and learn more about the value of the digital, one can read a text on 'Post-Internet and the Value of Digital Formats' by Doreen Rios, a curator based in Mexico City who also runs the platform 'Antimateria Digi- tal'. The text can be found here: https:// whatdowedonow.xyz/Booklet-text-by- Doreen-Rios. Given that the show remains online fol- lowing the COVID-19 outbreak, which has led to the enforced closure of convention- al museum spaces, how do you feel about it being ahead of this particular curve? Is it a case of something fringe and experimen- tal suddenly becoming 'mainstream' in some ways, albeit by force majeure...? For one, the online world has suddenly felt a lot busier over the past couple of months. I have noticed that people have started to use social media differently, in a way that it was used before social media took over – that is, to find things of interest and people who share the same interests. As for online platforms, I have noticed a much higher engagement with the web- site. People would arrive at WhatDoWe- DoNow? not only via social media links but also via search engines, which signal to me that people are looking to experi- ence art and art hosting platforms direct- ly. In other words, they are visiting web- sites again. The impression I get is that showing and selling work online has become normal- ised in recent times, which also contrib- utes to the value of a digital object being raised in the eyes of the viewers. It will be interesting to see whether this holds when the world reopens. Is the dig- ital a temporary substitute for the physi- cal, or will this experience of treating the virtual as the "real" last beyond the pan- demic? Interestingly, physical exhibition spaces have begun to finally push for arranging online spaces through which they can operate. But it's at an infancy stage right now, as many of them seem content to simply recreate the white cube space online, rather than embracing the world where you can virtually show artworks on Mars and create really interesting chains of interaction, rather than just images of physical works in their existing collec- tions. I hope the traditional art spaces embrace more the endless potential of the virtual, but do so while critically reflect- ing on the medium itself. During the lockdown, there was another rise of interest in online native artworks – net art – that live online. I found that quite interesting, especially with Olia Lialina's show at Arebyte, London that was just in- stalled before the lockdown. Olia's work considers structures of online worlds in- terpreted playfully, by placing parts of the work on various websites and platforms. In the physical gallery space, her works seem to gain a kind of second nature to their native online environment, which I find an interesting element of our time where the two realities balance out. How do you imagine the COVID-19 crisis, and whatever comes after, will affect the Maltese visual arts scene in particular? From what I've seen in the recent Emer- gency Grant results quite a few people found interesting ways of working with the virtual world in Malta. That gives me hope that with the access to digital tools and the shedding of a mental separation between the realities – or that one reality is more or less than the other – exciting things will happen in new media art lo- cally. There are so many tools out there to work with as an artist, it's a shame to limit oneself with a piece of purely ana- logue equipment, out of protest or inse- curity. However, a lack of accessibility to technology can hold some people back. If more people had access to VR equip- ment and support with using it, such as courses that encourage us to experiment with such digital tools, more artists would be interested and would feel comfortable working with it. On the other hand, for the dedicated ones, there's always ac- cessible hardware and free software that one can use even without access to high tech tools, one can create artworks with a mobile phone. This pandemic has shown us that the online is real, so why not inte- grate this thinking into our art practice? The online world is of course occupied by corporations, but it is also free from insti- tutional structures, allowing everyone to make an online space the way they want and to share it with others. To experience the WhatDoWe- DoNow online exhibition, log on to: Whatdowedonow.xyz and find it on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ whatdowedonoww/ Aquatic Toxic Forms by Aysegul Altunok Ephemeral Paradises by Enzo Piantanida