By using virtual worlds as their subjects, Eva and Franco Mattes (AKA 0100101110101101.org) attempt to explore the disintegration of humanity that accompanies media-filtered communication. At Postmasters Gallery, their four new videos and an installation combine performance and provocation.
One such virtual world is the gaming platform of the first-person shooter “Counter Strike.” In “Freedom,” Eva records a game in which she refuses to complete the assigned mission (kill opponents’ avatars) and instead pleads with them to help her survive because she is “trying to make an artwork.” The result, predictably, is that her avatar is slaughtered and mutilated again and again.
“Medication Valse,” by Evan and Franco Mattes.
“No Fun” uses Chatroulette to explore the public’s reaction to an anonymous crisis. After faking suicide, Franco swings from a rope for hours in front of his computer’s camera while the site’s randomized viewers react in the left half of the screen. The number of people who, after the initial surprise of seeing a hanging, simply start laughing is disturbing. Reportedly, out of several thousand viewers, only one called the police.
Extrapolating their experiences while provoking these online communities to a statement about “real” society is a fallacy; this is not Baudrillard’s hyperreality. Instead, it questions the morally vacant virtual worlds we have created parallel to our own. It is important to note that we are the observers here. The people the Mattes are (virtually) interacting with are simply subjects for us to read morally and ethically. The “performance” occurs to be documented and placed in a gallery, complete with its inherent distance.
Reality is Overrated also features the Mattes’ first project together, in which, between 1995 and ’97, they went on a crime spree, stealing small bits from famous 20th-century artworks. “Stolen Pieces” is displayed here along with a clandestinely shot video of their last heist from one of Alberto Burri’s “combustion” paintings. “Stolen Pieces” raises important questions about the idolization of over-valued art and its progeny, as well as the effectiveness of museum security.
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Through June 19, Postmasters Gallery, 459 W. 19th St., 212-727-3323.
