Today, on April 15, will open- with a virtual event – an experimental initiative conceived to support the activities of the Link Art Center, the Italian institution dedicated to art and new languages. Born Digital, an online benefit auction hosted by the US based platform Paddle8, that already supported similar initiatives by renown institutions such as The Kitchen, Performa and the Phillips Collection, among many others. Paddle8 has been active in Europe for some time, but the Link Art Center is the first Italian no-profit organization actively collaborating with them.
Although online auctions are nothing new, Born Digital is an experiment for at least two reasons: it takes place online only, and it focuses on a field that always had a difficult relationship with the art market, challenging its rules and introducing new formats: the art responding to the issues and media of the information age. Far from being just a sale, this auction becomes an educational, informative event, the attempt to open a dialogue with collectors and offer them new solutions. Starting prices vary from a minimum of 100 € to a maximum of 15.000, to fit with different modes of collecting.
Thirty three are the artists who participated to the project with more that 50 works. Born Digital is much more than an auction: it has become a big online show, an excerpt of about fifty years of European contemporary art, from early computer art to the much debated Post Internet. Taking part in the auction, you will support the artists and their work in the first place; and, on the other hand, Paddle8 and the Link Art Center, that will get 20% of the income (from the press release).
The LINK Center for the Arts of the Information Age is a multi-functional center promoting artistic research with new technologies and critical reflections on the core issues of the information age: it organizes workshops, seminars, conferences and shows, forges partnerships with private and institutional partners, publishes books and networks with similar organizations worldwide. Founded in 2011, the LINK Center acts locally but thinks European. Nomad without physical premises, the LINK Center is a work in progress. It sets out to introduce the «Media Art Center» model into Italy, but with a new vision based on an innovative organizational strategy and cultural outlook.
(cover) Angelo Plessas, Re-twittering Machine, 2012. Website, unique. Courtesy the artist (1) Aram Bartholl, Are you human? 2012. Aluminium, 75 x 33 cm. Unique, courtesy the artist and DAM Gallery, Berlin.
[nggallery id=24]
digtGallery (2) Heath Bunting, Liberty One Off-the-shelf Anonymous Corporation, 2014, small plastic box containing: A0 flow chart (a1140), highlighter pens, writing pen, mobile phone sim card, maestro debit card, signature stamp, receipts. 6 cm x 14 cm x 20 cm, unique, courtesy the artist. (3) Aram Bartholl, Are you human?, 2012. Aluminium, 75 x 33 cm, unique, courtesy the artist and DAM Gallery, Berlin (4) Gregory Chatonsky, L’enclave, 2012. Network sculpture, 47 x 23 x 18 cm, edition of 3 + 2AP (edition 2/3). Courtesy XPO Gallery, Paris (5) Elisa Giardina Papa, Brush Stroke, 2012. Digital print on laser cut PVC, variable dimensions. Unique + AP. Courtesy the artist. (6) Jan Robert Leegte, Scrollbar Composition 2005 / 2011, 2005 / 2011. Installation, 285 x 390 x 245 cm. Edition of 3 + 1AP, courtesy the artist (7) Angelo Plessas, Re-twittering Machine, 2012. Website, unique. Courtesy the artist. (8) Carlo Zanni, The Sandman, 2013. Video in print, unlimited edition. Courtesy the artist. (9) Vera Molnar, Square Structures, 1989. Plotter drawing, 20 x 30 cm, courtesy DAM Gallery, Berlin.
