H2SO3.COM  / ARTWORK: INSTANCE CITY, 2002 / AUTHOR: RICCARDO ZANARDELLI

/ DESCRIPTION: "EACH OF THESE 'CITIES', THEN, IS SIMPLY A SKETCH - NOT EVEN AN IDEAL, VISION, OR DREAM, WHETHER POLITICAL, UTOPIAN OR SPECULATIVE: JUST A MATHEMATICAL PRODUCTION, RANDOMLY GENERATED, NO SOONER SEEN THAT IT IS GONE. IN BLACK AND WHITE OR IN COLOUR (IN BLUE, GREEN, AND RED), SOLID RECTANGLES OF VARIOUS SIZES CLUSTER AND SPREAD, WITH VARIATIONS IN SHADING BETWEEN THEM, PRODUCING A DEGREE OF SPATIAL DEPTH AND SUGGESTING SOME KIND OF URBAN AGGLOMERATION. FROM AN ARCHITECTURAL POINT OF VIEW, AT LEAST - BUT NO OPENINGS, NO STREETS, WINDOWS, OR DOORS, AND APPARENTLY LIFELESS, WITH NO ACTIVITY, NO PASSERSBY, NO EVENT, NO ENCOUNTER. THE WORK COULD HAVE SEEMED OPPRESSIVE, ANXIOUS, BUT ITS ABSTRACTION AND, INDEED, ITS BEAUTY AND VISUAL ELEGANCE, AVOID SUCH AN OUTCOME. ITS EPHEMERAL APPEARANCE AS WELL, DUE TO ITS MEANS OF CREATION (ON COMPUTER) AND ITS SUPPORT (THE SCREEN), THE "VIRTUAL WORK" (IN THE ARISTOTELIAN SENSE OF "A WORK OF POTENTIALITY") - THAT IS, THE GENERIC CLASS DEFINED BY AN ALGORITHM - HAVING AS MUCH, IF NOT GREATER VALUE THAN THE "WORK IN ACTUALITY" - E.I., THE (RANDOMLY PRODUCED) SERIES OF INSTANTIATIONS OF THIS CLASS, THE "CITY INSTANCES." "YET, THESE FLEETING VISIONS OF ABSTRACT, ELUSIVE CITIES, FADING AWAY AS SOON AS THEY APPEAR, CAN COME TO MAKE UP - IN FAST MOTION! - STRANGE RELICS, EVOCATIONS OF CITIES THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN, OR WOULD OR COULD BE, WILL BE PERHAPS, OR PERHAPS NEVER. IN THE END, THESE FRAGILE RECTANGULAR SHAPES, ASSEMBLED AN INSTANT IN SCREEN SPACE, ONLY RARELY AND PRECARIOUSLY PRESERVED BY SCREEN CAPTURE, PRODUCE AN ULTRA-CONTEMPORARY VERSION OF THE WELL-KNOWN CLASSICAL AND RENAISSANCE TOPOS (ALSO FOUND IN MORE SUBJECTIVE FORM IN ROMANTICISM, AS IN CHATEAUBRIAND, AMONG OTHERS): THE VANITY OF LIFE AND HUMAN ENDEAVOUR, AS EXEMPLIFIED BY THE RUINS OF VANISHED CITIES, OBJECT OF THE PHILOSOPHER'S, POET'S, OR PAINTER'S MEDITATION." [ ANNE-MARIE BOISVERT- EDITOR IN CHIEF OF THE ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE OF THE CENTRE INTERNATIONAL D'ART CONTEMPORAIN DE MONTREAL ]

FEATURED IN: - RHIZOME'S ARTBASE, NY - BIENNALE D'ART CONTEMPORAIN DE MONTREAL, 2004