“The Fall” is composed of two complementary sections: a performance and an installation. The artwork starts with the analysis of a Boston Dynamics video in which we see a robot that is pushed to fall in order to test its balance.
In October, the appointment with “Maker Faire Rome – The European Edition” returns, in its seventh edition in the capital. But this year, for the first time, Maker decides to focus attention on contemporary art, contaminated with new technologies through the new “Maker Art” section curated by Valentino Catricalà. The project is promoted and organized by the Rome Chamber of Commerce with its InnovaCamera Special Company,and takes place at the Nuova Fiera di Roma until October 20, 2019.
“I have always thought that art, especially that which uses technology, is not only important because it adds content to the world of art, but it can be an engine for technological innovation and for society in general. Working across the board, connecting different areas, is what I’m most passionate about. Thus was born the Maker Art project” – Catricalà tells to Artribune.
The exhibition itinerary was designed based on the themes of the fair: artificial intelligence, sustainability, robotics, sound universe, etc. A “participatory path” where the public interfaces with various works and installations with the aim of entering a technologically advanced cultural circuit.
During the MakerArt the works of thirty-one artists of international caliber will be on display, including the first classified of the Re:Humanism Art Prize, Giang Hoang Nguyen.
“The Fall” is composed of two complementary sections: a performance and an installation. The artwork starts with the analysis of a Boston Dynamics video in which we see a robot that is pushed to fall in order to test its balance. The performer action, on the contrary, consists in following a vocal tutorial that suggests the exact procedure to fall like an automaton. If in an initial phase the performance is charged with a strong emotionalism due to the approaching of the fall, the mechanical succession of gestures makes the performative body more and more artificial.
The act of falling, which is something random, unpredictable and from which learning mechanisms arise, becomes controllable and measurable.
With this work, the artist questions the technological advancement that is making us post-human. The symbol of this uncertain future is the fall, able to lead to progress or to a ruinous failure.
[Giang Hoang Nguyen lives and works between Hanoi and Milan. His current research and practice are aimed to investigate failures in the relationship between human and machine, specifically in the process of learning. He has participated in various exhibitions, workshops, screenings and art projects in Vietnam, Italy, Portugal and France].