Domenico Quaranta

Domenico Quaranta (1978, Brescia, Italy) is a contemporary art critic and curator. He focused his research on the impact of the current techno-social developments on the arts, with a specific focus on art in networked spaces, from the Internet to virtual worlds. As an art critic, he is a regular contributor to Flash Art magazine; his essays, reviews and interviews appeared in many magazines, newspapers and web portals, such as: Magazine électronique du CIAC (CA), Rhizome (US), A Minima (SP), Vague Terrain, HZ Journal, MESH (AU), RCCS (Resource Center For Cyberculture Studies, US), Maska (SLO), Around Photography (IT), FMR Bianca (IT), Digimag (IT), Exibart (IT), Noemalab (IT), Arte e critica (IT), Drome (IT), Cluster (IT), L'Unità (IT) and many others. His first book titled, NET ART 1994-1998: La vicenda di Äda'web was published in 2004; he also co-edited, together with Matteo Bittanti, the book "GameScenes. Art in the Age of Videogames" (Milan, October 2006) and contributed to a number of books and publications. Since 2008 he edits, for the italian publisher FPEditions, a series of books on New Media Art (edited titles: Todd Deutsch – Gamers, 2008; Gazira Babeli, 2008; Holy Fire. Art of the Digital Age, 2008; UBERMORGEN.COM, 2009; RE:akt! | Reconstruction, Re-enactment, Re-reporting, 2009).
He curated and co-curated a number of exhibitions, including: Connessioni Leggendarie. Net.art 1995-2005 (Milan 2005); GameScenes (Turin 2005); Radical Software (Turin 2006); "Holy Fire. Art of the Digital Age" (Bruxelles 2008); "For God's Sake!" (Nova Gorica, 2008); RE:akt! | Reconstruction, Re-enactment, Re-reporting (Bucharest – Lijubliana 2009); Expanded Box (ARCO Art Fair, Madrid 2009); Hyperlucid (Prague Biennal, Prague 2009). He lectures internationally and teaches “Net Art” at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan.

Projects

2008

Produced as a catalogue for the exhibition Holy Fire. Art of the Digital Age, this book is, indeed, more than a simple catalogue. Along with the works of the 27 artists in the exhibition, it features the editor’s essays along with a collective interview involving some of the most important representatives of the new media art world.

2007

The Gate is both an installation and a collaborative performance platform. The Gate connects the real life and the universe of Second Life (SL), it acts as a junction point, a door between the two worlds and two representation spaces. Basically, it is a simple window between both worlds where Real Life (RL) users and SL users see each other, can meet and interact. A view of the SL Gate is permanently projected in the real life venue; when an SL user with his/her avatar comes in front of The Gate in SL, it is visible in the real public space; when one arrives physically in front of the door in the public space, he/she becomes visible in SL and can interact with the SL users currently in front.

Activities

2018

With Yves Bernard, Peter Beyls, Josephine Bosma, Constant Dullaart, Valérie Hasson-Benillouche, Hampus Lindwall, Fabio Paris, Domenico Quaranta, Carlo Zanni.

2011

With : Raphaël Bastide & Yannick Antoine, Michel Bauwens, Josephine Bosma, Heath Bunting, Paolo Cirio, Florian Cramer, Régine Debatty, Constant Dullaart, Jodi, Olia Lialina, Alessandro Ludovico, Nicolas Malevé, Miltos Manetas, Julian Oliver, Domenico Quaranta, Rafael Rozendaal, Sakrowski, Gordan Savičić 

2010

PLAYLIST explores the relationship between video games, music and visual art. The exhibition, imported from LABoral (ES) and now presented at iMAL, shows artworks by artists coming from the "chiptune" and media arts scenes who reused old PC's and games consoles to create new sound and visual contents. Reinventing and hacking vinyl’s, vintage computers, game platforms, they turned “dead media” into powerful tools of artistic creation.

2008

Art of the Digital Age a collective exhibition featuring a unique panel of digital artworks created in the last years by internationally known new media artists, and coming from galleries and collections from around the world (USA, Europe, Russia)

2007

For the opening of iMAL new venue, the inaugural exhibition "Hybrid World" explores the merge between the Internet and the physical world. It is enriched with a programme of concerts and performances.