The Net Art pioneers open their first ever Italian solo show in Modena, taking a close look at the Internet and its impact on real life with works selected by an algorithm. Eva & Franco Mattes. Most Viewed is curated by Nadim Samman, on occasion of festivalfilosofia on Justice.
Since the 1990s, Eva & Franco Mattes have kept a close eye on the Internet and its IRL (impact on real life), creating a provocative body of works that runs the gamut from VR to sculpture. In a long-overdue homecoming, the pair stage their first Italian solo exhibition at FMAV with a spectrum of works from their recent oeuvre (2016 - 2022), selected by a mysterious algorithm.
Internet culture is conditioned by processes that take place out of sight.The attention economy metric of “likes” and “views” obscures our alienation from the inner workings of the web and its IRL: User Experience Design proposes a simplified relation to the system, establishing a liminal zone where reality, fantasy and power intersect.Furthermore, the flux of “content” represses context: the conditions which underpin image creation, factors influencing the visibility of such images, systems of circulation and more. Eva & Franco Mattes.Most to Least Viewed probes this tension, taking up the relation between what is put on display and that which remains hidden.
Laid out in sequence from “most to least viewed”, the exhibition’s content mirrors the valence of the artists’ oeuvre across social media and the web in the last 12 months.Which works have done well is clear, but why this has happened is veiled in shadow.Why are they liked or viewed?In foregrounding the impossibility of answering this question, while presenting the results of an obscure technical process, the artists allude to the role of alien curatorial forces at play in the broader sweep of our lives.
