Carlo Zanni: Art in the age of the cloud
In conversation with Carlo Zanni, we retrace his artistic and biographical journey. Zanni will lead us to the heart of the algorithmic landscape that he has portrayed since its inception with every tool – video, sound, animation, sculpture, AI, painting, photography and installation – capturing it as it takes shape ‘from’ and ‘in’ the relationship between the internet, information and identity, between public and private.
With Zanni and his work, we traverse the great oscillations in the relationship between technology, finance and society, between utopia and dystopia, between the peaks of speculative bubbles and their collapses, which are the driving forces behind the introduction of new technologies, as was the case with Blockchain following the 2008 global financial crisis. His recent series of canvas paintings, Check Out Paintings, inspired by the interfaces of e-commerce sites captured at the moment of check-out, belongs to the years 2019-20, marked by the pandemic and the peak of the NFT bubble.
Carlo Zanni is an Italian conceptual artist, a pioneer in the use of Internet data, and a painter. Born in La Spezia in 1975, Zanni works in a wide range of media, including video, sound, animation, sculpture, AI, painting, photography and installation. Since 1999, his practice has explored the public space of the web and the use of Internet data to create ephemeral, time-based works that combine a strong social conscience with a primary focus on privacy, identity and the self. As a painter, he focuses his attention on a new type of “shared landscape” that has emerged with the Internet and continues to transform all human activities and relationships.
“Arte nell’epoca del cloud” is part of Colours and Crafts of the Multimedia Arts, a series of meetings organised by Elena Giulia Rossi as part of the School of New Technologies for Art to investigate the multiple facets of multimedia production, from the creative moment to its conservation and placement on the market, through the most diverse experiences of artists, curators, computer scientists and theorists. With the most varied backgrounds, they have all been active on the international multimedia arts scene for more than twenty years, united by a constant commitment to both theory and practice.
The series entitles participants to 1 CFA (upon attendance at 5 out of 6 meetings)
For info, write to: Elena Giulia Rossi: e.rossi@abaroma.it
For info and bookings: TEAMS code danguqp
Upcoming meetings:
Antonello Tolve: Art in the art market
Tuesday 18 April, 12:00 noon – 2:00 pm (in person, Campo Boario, Room 8B)
Communications Office of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome
Coordination: Prof. Guglielmo Gigliotti g.gigliotti@abaroma.it
Collaboration: Chiara Picco, Martina Macchia, Marianna Pontillo comunicazione@abaroma.it