Gloria Maria Gallery is pleased to announce the first solo Italian exhibition of Rafaël Rozendaal:
“To Walk The Night”.

Opening: Thursday, May 26, 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Gloria Maria Gallery
May 26 – July 25, 2011

Born in Amsterdam in 1980, Rozendaal has lived and held exhibitions all over the world, Los Angeles, Berlin, Tokyo and London amongst others. Rozendaal is a leading figure of computer art, he creates highly abstract interactive websites as art pieces and sells their domains as collectibles.
His work has a very strongly defined aesthetic – almost simplistic in its approach but executed with a sharp intelligence. He describes the virtual window of a browser being richer than a window in the real world. Working with transient and disposable media reminiscent of Warhol’s consumable art practice Rozendaal seeks inspiration from modernist paintings and animated cartoons. In the last 10 years he has created a strong web presence and his websites have generated 1.2 million unique visits monthly.
Rozendaal is willing to expose his web artworks as objects of speculation, much like contemporary art pieces exhibited in an art gallery, but internet – his chosen “gallery” – is much more accessible. Though the pieces are exhibited freely on the internet, the artist decided to display at Gloria Maria Gallery an installation consisting of drawings and mirrors. While disarmingly simple, Rafaël Rozendaal’s drawings unfold in complexity through their boldness of concept.
Rafaël Rozendaal lives and works between Amsterdam, Berlin and Rio. He has had solo exhibitions at Sketch, London 2005, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 2006 and NIMK Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst in 2010. Group shows include, The Whitney Biennial 2002, NYC, Neen Demo, Benaki Museum, Athens 2006, Existential Computing, 2007 at The Hayward Gallery, London and Kunsthalle Athena in 2010. He was awarded Rhizome commission for The New Museum, NYC in 2008 and 2010. Rozendaal took part to the File Festival and Rojo Nova Festival both held in Rio de Janeiro, in 2011. He has been also invited to present his work at the DLD 2011 conference, curated by Johannes Fricke in Munich.
Rozendaal is also the founder of BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer), a series of one-night international exhibitions, soon to be hosted by the 2nd Internet Pavilion during the Venice Biennale, at the prestigious location of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia on the Island San Servolo.

Animated Gif by Travess Smalley

Padiglione Internet presents: BYOB Venezia

Island Of San Servolo, Accademia Di Belle Arti Di Venezia,
Thursday June 2nd 2011, 7pm -12am
How to get there (pdf)

Curators
Margherita Balzerani, Gloria Maria Cappelletti, Caroline Corbetta, Silvia Ferri De Lazara, Marina Fokidis, Elena Giulia Rossi, Valentina Tanni, Mara Sartore, Yvonne Force Villareal, Doreen Reemen, Jan Aman, Manuel Frara, David Quiles Guilló, Miltos Manetas, Lev Manovich, Angelo Plessas, Rafaël Rozendaal, Domenico Quaranta, Francesco Urbano and Francesco Ragazzi.

Artists
Agnes Bolt, Alterazioni Video, Andreas Angelidakis, Angelo Plessas, Anna Franceschini, Billy Rennekamp, Britta Thie, Claudia Rossini, Cristian Bugatti, Eilis McDonald, Elisa Giardina Papa, Giallo Concialdi, Hayley Silverman, Interno3, Iocose, Jaime Martinez, Jeremy Bailey, KUNSTKAMMER, Les liens invisibles, LG Williams/Estate Of LG Williams, Luca Bolognesi, LuckyPDF, Marc Kremers, Marco Cadioli, Marisa Olson, Marlous Borm, Martin Cole, Matteo Erenbourg , Mike Ruiz, Miltos Manetas, Nazareno Crea, Nikola Tosic, Parker Ito, Pegy Zali, Petros Moris, Priscilla Tea, Rafaël Rozendaal, Rene Abythe, Riley Harmon, Sarah Ciraci, Sarah Hartnett, Theodoros Giannakis, UBERMORGEN.COM, Valery Grancer, Wojciech Kosma, Yuri Pattison, Constant Dullaart, Daniel Swan, Duncan Malashock, Jodi, Panos Tsagaris, Travess Smalley.

In Collaboration with
Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, Gloria Maria Gallery, Associazione E, Galleria A+A Centro Pubblico per l’Arte Contemporanea, Fondazione March per l’Arte Contemporanea

Media Partner
Lightbox

Today there is an article about me and Neen in O Globo, Brazil’s biggest newspaper.
Thank you very much to super journalist Carol Luck!

Culture blog It’s Nice That asked me to take a picture of my bookshelf and write a bit about my five favorite books. You can read it all here.
And yes, that’s my Kindle at Ipanema beach in Rio. It is an awesome machine, lighter than most books, I hiiiiighly recommend it. I’ll write a Kindle post soon.

Today many of my websites will be broadcasted for 24 hours on Art TV station Ikono. Their motto is “Television becomes beautiful”. Artworks are shown without any extra information, just the titles and the works themselves. It is an exhibition space in the form of a TV channel. You can see Ikono in these channels: ARABSAT (22 Arab countries), Etisalat channel 484 (UAE) & du channel 410 (Dubai).

Happening right now, The Nova Festival in Rio is Organized by Rojo magazine and includes a huge variety of contemporary culture. Above is a photo taken by Gabriel Paranagua of a group performance I did at Fundação Casa França-Brasil together with Rosa Menkman, Jeffers Egan, Isan, Evan Voytas and Elen.

Thank you everyone!

Highly recommended: We Transfer, the easy way to send big files.
Simple, free, no sign-up, nice design.

Sarah Curtis asks: How do you want to be remembered? 🙂

Hi Sarah, thank you for your question.

As hard as it is, I try not to think about what others think of me. I’ve been called an asshole many many times and I never liked it. I don’t think it’s very productive for me to worry about what others think of me, so I try not to. But I do worry, I do think about how I’m perceived. Am I fun to be around? Is my work interesting? Do I look OK?

However, I can honestly tell you,

I do not care at all how I’m remembered after I die.

I will not be there, it won’t affect me.

This post is part of “Ask Anything”.
If there is anything you’d like to ask me, please leave a question on my Facebook page.

Thank you Sun An for noticing.

Just Quist asks: What do you consider the right size and resolution to view your digital work?

Hello Just, thank you for your question.

Some people are sensitive to words, others to music.
Some people like small screens, some people like museum scale projections.

There is no right size for my work. The point of making websites is to create flexible entities that adapt to very different contexts. Different screens, different sizes, different aspect ratios, different social climates. My websites are scalable, they are resolution independent and the compositions adapt themselves to any screen. There is no control. Ideally the works are everywhere, for anyone, at any time.

This post is part of “Ask Anything”.
If there is anything you’d like to ask me, please leave a question on my Facebook page.

Damn the internet is fast!
The Finger Battle iPhone app was released on the iTunes store 9 days ago.
The bootleg Android version was published 5 days later! Business is not easy…

from the Android app description:
Exciting and addictive game for 2 players and one android device.
Tap your region as fast as you can to overgrow your opponent.
Clone of well-known iPhone game.
Needs multitouch-enabled device and at least one friend nearby.

My latest book, Domain Names 2010 – 2001, is now for sale in my shop.
The edition is very limited so don’t wait.

Photo by Armando JR

An interview with me on the Vogue Italia website.
(on the occasion of my book launch tomorrow)

Art Website Sales Contract is a document that I use to sell my websites.
It can be used by anyone who wants to buy or sell an art-piece-in-a-domain-name.

I’m happy to announce that my work will be shown in this year’s Armory Show. The Rhizome / New Museum booth is curated by Lauren Cornell and includes works by artists Harm van den Dorpel, Sara Ludy, Takeshi Murata, Seth Price, Anne de Vries and Rafaël Rozendaal. You can find Rhizome at Pier 94, in booth L-26. The fair is open from Noon to 8pm March 3-5th, and then from Noon to 7pm on March 6th.

From Wikipedia: The Armory Show, The International Fair of New Art, is the largest contemporary art fair in New York, and one of the largest in the world.

Louis Vuitton, the French masters of luxury, just launched a new website: Louis Vuitton Digital Discoveries.
Japanese internet legend Yugo Nakamura was asked to present his favorite young artists, and I’m happy to be part of his selection.

BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) is a worldwide series of DIY one-night-exhibitions,
exploring the medium of projection.
The next edition happens tomorrow night in London and I hope to see you there.

Susanna Davies Crook wrote a feature about the BYOB idea on Dazed Digital.

BYOB London, curated by Kernel
February 25, 2011, from 18.30 to 22.00
The Woodmill, Neckinger Depot, Neckinger, London, SE16 3QN

Participating Artists:
Amalia Ulman, Anne de Vries, Aristide Antonas, Arran Ridley, Ben Vickers, Carl Burgess, Daniel Swan, Emily Jones, Harry Sanderson, Helen Marten & Fran Edgerley, Hyo Myoung Kim, Iain Ball, Jeremy Bailey & Kristen Schaffer, Jimmy Merris, Katja Novitskova, KERNEL (Pegy Zali, Petros Moris, Theodoros Giannakis), L_A_N, LuckyPDF (James Early, John Hill, Oliver Hogan, Yuri Pattison), Luke Barcelona Cano, Marc Kremers, Martin Cole, Matthew Stone, Theo Michael & George Tsioutsias, Mike Ruiz, Nicolas Roope, No New Info (Lauren Elder, Andre and Evan Lenox, Arend deGruyter-Helfer, Micah Schippa, Brian Khek), Paul B Davis, Poka-Yio, Rafaël Rozendaal, Richard Sides, Sascha Pohflepp, Tim Steer, Yuri Pattison.

Damir Sadullaev asks: why you answering these questions?

Hello Damir, thank you for your question.

We live in the information age. We are free to share anything that comes to mind. All you need is a computer and an internet connection. However, blogging is not easy. You don’t do it once a year, you have to do it all the time. I kept thinking about my next text. What should I write about? In my mind I kept contradicting myself. I wanted to write about Art, but that is impossible since Art is an irrational endeavor.
I decided to start an open source interview called Ask Anything. The idea is simple; it’s an ongoing interview, and anyone can ask me anything. I try to answer as many questions as I can. You can send me questions by email, or on my Facebook Page. I’m curious to find out what you will ask.

I also have a blog called One Question Interview, which is the opposite of Ask Anything.

Thomas Lynn asks: what is the combo to closedshut.com?

Hello Thomas, thank you for your question.

Many people have asked me and the answer is simple:
I will never, ever, ever, ever, disclose the combination to closed shut .com.
Not in this universe or any other.

This post is part of “Ask Anything”.
If there is anything you’d like to ask me, please leave a question on my Facebook Page.

A new print in my Shop: limited edition of 40, signed silkscreen on heavy matte paper: Broken Self

You’re business is always greatly appreciated.

Hello Jonathan, thank you for your question.

Does “after the internet” imply that the internet will end? What will we do when we run out of internet?
Or are you curious what the next big thing might be?
The stone age, the industrial age, the information age, and then…

The funny thing is, the future is usually not what we think it will be. 50 years ago, people imagined a future of flying cars and meals-in-a-pill. Instead, today we have budget airlines and organic food.
(More…)

A short feature on yours truly in Interview Magazine.
Founded by artist Andy Warhol in late 1969, the magazine features intimate conversations between some of the world’s biggest celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers.

I was lucky to be part of the DLD 2011 conference. DLD (Digital-Life-Design) is an annual gathering of leading figures in technology, science, business and culture. I showed work on touchscreens, VJ-ed at the party, and observed.

Flying business class is nice, staying at a 5-star hotel is even nicer. The skylight pool was the best.

There is a lot of money in tech.
I overheard a conversation between 2 investors: “Thanks for that tip, you saved me 40 million.”

30 year old CEO Andrew Mason spoke about turning down Google’s 6 billion dollar offer for Groupon.com. Computing power is very cheap nowadays so startups can scale easily. I wonder if the same will happen to engineering. In the near future, creating a web service could be as easy as sending an email.

A presentation on space tourism; tickets range from 200K (suborbital flight) to 150 million (flight around the moon). “It might seem hard to believe but for some people 200,000 USD is not within their means, we’re working on cutting the prices even further.”

Sean Parker (Napster, Facebook, Spotify) spoke about The Social Network: “It’s a great movie but also a complete work of fiction.” Later that night I saw him in the hotel elevator, drunk with 2 hot girls in his arms, looked like the movie to me.

Wellness expert Deepak Chopra spoke about spiritual wealth: “Truly rich people don’t spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.”

Poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger spoke about the term cloud computing: “It is in interesting choice… most IT words are very dull. Clouds stimulate the imagination. However, clouds are very unpredictable, you should not be surprised if they leak and it starts to rain.”

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt (photo above) spoke about self-driving cars and realtime voice translation. Our present is very futuristic. Geeks rule the world and the future looks even nerdier. “Your kids are either asleep or online.” I wonder how long it takes till we let Google into our dreams.