Artist: Martina Menegon
Ars Electronica Exhibition
Opening: April 3, 2024, 19:00 h
April 3 – June 7, 2024
Address: St.Henrik Bariç, no.10, Prishtinë, 10000, Republic of Kosovo
Shtatëmbëdhjetë Galeria17 and Ars Electronica Export present artworks by Martina Menegon in Pristina Kosovo. The exhibition series Techne, where artists, scientists and creators meet at the crossroads of technology and art, builds the framework for the collaboration between Ars Electronica and Shtatëmbëdhjetë. The theme seeks to align our artists and our community with a broader global discourse on technology and innovation in art and artistic creativity.
In the exhibition you know me so well intimate and complex assemblages of interactive, virtual and extended self-portraits inhabit the exhibition space, inviting the viewers to contemplate the fluidity of identity of our contemporary reality and challenging users to rethink our own existence and relationships with our virtual selves. Particularly, the care for our virtual (and therefore physical) being and the glitch as a liberating practice is at the core of the exhibition you know me so well.
Biometric data intertwines with AI generated avatars, prompts reflections on self-care that extend beyond the boundaries of the tangible body – while also hinting at the effect of privacy and data-surveillance for women’s bodies. At the same time, the glitched self-portraits construct disorienting yet palpable experiences, fostering a dialogue on the nature of our hybrid selves and the evolving landscape of self-expression.
The exhibition you know me so well urges us to explore the intricate and profound relationship between tangible and digital self-bodies, breaking the boundaries between physical and virtual existence and unraveling the complexities of our contemporary and resilient hybrid selves.
This exhibition is a collaboration between Shtatëmbëdhjetë and the Ars Electronica festival, in the framework of one of four themes of Galeria 17, Techne.
About the artist
Martina Menegon (she/her – Italy, 1988) is an artist, curator and educator living and working between Vienna and the cyberspace.
In her artistic practice, Martina creates intimate and complex assemblages of physical and virtual elements that explore the contemporary self and its hybrid corporeality. Using (and misusing) game engines, algorithms and the virtual, she experiments with new forms of performative and glitched self-portraiture, exploring new simulated fluid identities and creating uncanny, interactive and disorienting experiences that become perceivable despite their virtual nature.
Martina’s work has been featured in numerous international exhibitions, both online and offline, and can be found in various digital and offline collections, as well as in several permanent online spaces.
Martina graduated in Visual and Performing Arts (BA) at the IUAV University of Venice (IT) and in Media Art / Transmedia Art (BA / MA) at the University of Applied Arts – Die Angewandte in Vienna where she’s currently senior artist and lecturer. She has beenVice Director and Curator at the CIVA Festival for New Media Art in Vienna (2021-2023) and is Head of Extended Reality and Curator for the “Area for Virtual Art“ on behalf of sound:frame.
martinamenegon.xyz
About Shtatëmbëdhjetë
Shtatëmbëdhjetë (17) originally emerged as a collaborative duo and based on the need to re-functionalize alternative public spaces, officially established itself as a foundation in 2018, headquartered in Prishtina, Kosovo. Shtatëmbëdhjetë (17) visions that citizens of all genders participate and contribute meaningfully and freely in the community and public life through culture, education and activism. Its mission is to foster positive change in society through empowering communities by means of cultural activism. Shtatëmbëdhjetë’s primary programs revolve around Arts & Education, Cultural Activism, and Space, aligning with its strategic priorities: Public Space, Cultural activism, policymaking, advocacy, Environment, Gender, Community development, cooperation, Democracy, and Human Rights. The foundation manages three vital spaces: Project Space 17, Galeria 17, and Rezidenca 17, serving as hubs for education, activism, and bold artistic exploration.
foundation17.org
About Galeria 17
Galeria 17 – an exhibition space in Pristina – comes as a desire and need for inclusiveness and consistency of an artistic scene in fermentation, where exigency for new spaces of experimentation is vital. The presented exhibitions produce space while being reviewed and transformed. In this sense the gallery can be perceived as the space of a conch shell that arises with the clam that grows. It adapts and transforms depending on development needs, just as the common public space reflects our social structure within the labyrinths of urban progress.
www.galeria17.org
Support
This activity is supported by Municipality of Prishtina, SMART Balkans, Austrian Embassy Prishtina, Italian Embassy Prishtina, Italian Cultural Institute and SIGMA.
Galeria 17
Rr.Henrik Bariç, nr.10, Prishtinë, 10000, Republika e Kosovës
+383 (0) 49 170 078 | galeria17@foundation17.org | www.galeria17.org
