Tech as Technique Three Italian Artists Approaches to Technology Offer Differing Results by Serena Lei I remember as a child staring at the revolving platform at the airport baggage claim. My eyes were unfocused, and I had the sensation that the platform was still and it was me who was moving. Staring at Fabrizio Plessiís installation ìRoma IIî gave me a similar visual sensationóthe illusion of water, current and movementóalthough I was only looking at an image of a river on multiple television screens while listening to prerecorded sound. ìRoma IIî can be seen as part of the ìdigITALYartî exhibit at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Cultural Center. When entering the main lobby, you are immediately met by the sound of water, even though the fountain that faces the entrance has been turned off. Television screens are arranged face up in a circle of irregular marble slabs and a video of the Tiber River plays continuously on the monitors. FÈlix ¡ngel, general coordinator and curator of the Cultural Center, said that Plessi is concerned with the ìhumanization of technology,î using techn ology to express the human situation. Technology is Plessiís tool in art, a means rather than an end. In the case of ìRoma II,î the artist connects history in a circular installation reminiscent of the coliseum in Rome. He uses old and new materialsómarble ruins against television setsóto create a symbolic river. The IDB, whose agenda concerns Latin America and the Caribbean, has brought contemporary Italian art to their Cultural Center to honor Italy, this yearís host country for the IDBís 44th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors. ¡ngel decided to focus on contemporary art rather than compete with area museums in an attempt to represent Italyís rich artistic history. ìWe decided to bring a vision of Italy that relates to the future instead of the past,î he noted. Plessiís use of television and video is nearly archaic in comparison to the two other artists in the exhibit, both of whom take full advantage of the latest technology in their art. Celestino Soddu is an architect who has designed software to generate an endless stream of varying artistic interpretations. Posters of ìgenerative sequencesî present unique new definitions of chairs, castles, coffee pots and other objects. A computer is even set up to show the process at work. The program draws an endless number of solutions to the chairs or other subject matter according to Sodduís generative code. My unfortunate first impression of the program was that it looked like a hyperactive screensaver, and I admit this to prove a point: As fantastic and creative as these ìchairsî may appear, who is the real artist behind themóSoddu or the software? ¡ngel was concerned that this type of digital art might be less well received in the United Statesóa country so accustomed to technology as entertainment that we have almost been spoiled by our technological advancements. However, perhaps our perspective also gives us a more objective point of view. Special effects need to be over the top to impress us, but in art, more importantly than being impressed, we want to moved. Sodduís generative creations may be beautiful, but they are cold. Soddu has better success with his placement of computer-generated modern buildings in old, black-and-white photographs of American cities. The generated architecture is futuristic and angular, a shock set against the almost quaint simplicity of old skyscrapers. Soddu does the same thing with modern-day cities, programming the computer to take the surrounding architecture into consideration when generating possible buildings. Pictures of Dupont Circle and even the IDB building with Sodduís revisions are interesting, but not much more. Comparing Soddu to Plessi helps one understand why Plessi calls his art humanistic. Plessi uses technology in his installations, but the artistic soul is still human, the ideas still generated from within the artist himself. The third artist in the exhibit, Adriano Abbado, gets it right. His is a more technologically driven art than Plessiís, but a more human art than Sodduís. Abbado is concerned with the infinite as well as the connection between visuals and sound. Flat-screen televisions project digitally created images, and Abbadoís art comes alive in the clear resolution and brilliant colors on the televisions. A few of these images are interactive, allowing the viewer to rotate an image and effectively recreate the art. Some pieces are accompanied by sounds that relate to a specific image. In ìlatino,î Abbado has selected images from the IDBís own library. When the viewer touches the screen, the image vibrates with visual sound waves. Abbadoís ìmotion picture IIî is his version of a painting in motion. The abstract waves of white, light blue and purple have a ghostly, almost spiritual quality. At first, the piece appears to be static, but soon you become aware that the delicate lines of color are movingóthe entire picture in fact is constantly and subtly changing. The longer you stare at the image, the more obvious the changes become. This is a truly interactive piece that requires the viewer to relax and slow down, your very heart rate submitting to the pace of the picture, becoming in tune with its movement. The Cultural Center often chooses exhibits that parallel the IDBís agenda. Although it is a stretch to tie contemporary Italian art to issues in Latin America, ¡ngel asks us to question the technology as we view the exhibit. ìDigITALYart,î then, is reminiscent of the IDBís last exhibitóa video competition that often highlighted the failure of technologyís promise to developing countries. At the Board of Governors meeting, the IDB plans to discuss, among other things, technological development policies, so itís appropriate to present an exhibit of what is possible when technology merges with art. ìDigITALYartî runs through April 25 at the IDB Cultural Center, 1300 New York Avenue, NW. For more information, please call (202) 623-3774 or visit www.iadb.org/exr/cultural/center1.htm. Serena Lei is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.