an alternative form of digital art

Presentation at Siana'2005 (6-15 Apris, INT of Evry, near Paris)

Semaine des arts numériques et alternatifs

(Digital alternative arts Week)

Nine Roxame's works were presented in the exhibition, and won the "Anti-art" award. We had prepared a special text for Siana (see below). But we were taken in a wider debate and these lines ere not publicly proffered.

Materiality and interaction

Paintings for ordinary people

Roxame is not directly included in the mainstream of the present digital art. This main drive is centered on interactivity and virtuality : mobile images on screens. In fact, most ot the artists who tried to make art with the standard graphical software have given up the physical aspects. Web and video are for them the real media today.

Nevertheless, alternative tracks merit to be followed. The failure of e-book and the persistent success of paper book lets think that the physical object remains continues to play an important role today. Even for the "Nintendo Generation", which buys Harry Potter and Manga books by the millions. Then, do we think, the traditional trestle work has still a major place to conquer, and even to reconquer in our homes, where TV, PC and portable phones let wrongly think that they will reign alone.

Roxame aims specifically at this kind of art works. Yes, she hopes to seduce some day the great Art World of international galleries, shows and private collections, who make the law in contemporary aesthetics. But she wishes at first to conquer the heart of laymen, ordinary people, offering them so beautiful and strong works that they long to hang them on their home walls.

Autonomy and interactivity, not of the work, but of the robot-artist herself

Yet, Roxame also is interactive and virtual in some way, though her first quality is autonomy. As a matter of fact, she breaks really new grounds in artists, computers and spectator interactions. She is not a workshop for an artist, but an artist by heself. Free... at least more and more free as her developper keeps her in progress, bringing

- wider pictorial competencies,
- larger and deeper autonomy,
- richer interaction ability.

So, while different from other research lines in the field of digital art, Roxame brings complementary ways to the other projects... and hope a peaceful and productive cooperation even with the most traditional kinds of painting : photography did not kill watercoulour nor oil paintinb. But it has pusthed the precedent techniques to question themselves and to find new inspiration springs.

The rest of the presentation will follow the general Lines of Roxame's project description.

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