“(In)human Sciences” was made for the exhibition Neterotopia, curated by Daniele Balit and Pierre Mertens. During March 2006, my work was displayed in the advertising space of the website of the french newspaper Libération. The exhibition was also shown at physical spaces: Palais de Tokyo (Paris), NICC (Antwerp) and Careof (Milan).
The project was supported by NICC, Love Difference et Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto.
“Neterotopia” is inspired by Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia. In opposition to the non-places of utopy, the heterotopies (literally: places of diversity), are defined by Foucault as “other spaces” capable to receive diversity and possibility, without disconnecting from the real world. Neterotopies are thus inserted in the media communication system, respecting its rules and limits, at same time attaching a new significance to advertising spaces.
Artists and websites: Christophe Bruno (liberation) - Ghazel (sortiraparis.com) - Susan Hefuna (movies.tenuae.com) - Nathalie Hunter (google.com) - Yuji Oshima (arman.fm) - Peter Lemmensand Eva Cardon (wunderground.com) - Adam Vackar (inrockutibles.com) - Stephen Vitiello (villagevoice.com) - Luca Vitone (viamichelin.it) - Version (Gabriela Vanga, Ciprian Muresan e Mircea Cantor) (corriere.it) - 0100101110101101.ORG (film.it).
Here is the statement for “(In)human Sciences”:
There are times in History when the issue of the limits of the human and intimacy arises with urgency and acuity and is to be addressed.
Examples range from the excessive proceedings requested by the judicial machinery, which were made plain to everyone after the case in Outreau (one of France’s highest-profile child abuse case in years), to the promises of infallible love performance advertised by some multinational pharmaceutical companies, to the latest hype …. the World Wide Web - in which panoptic search engines pave the way for the “Taylorisation of discourse”. Is Science to become a mere tool for commercial activities, with their unquenchable thirst for new markets, as well as for police regulation or social control?
Echoing the phrase “Human Sciences”, the “(In)human Sciences” project, consists in creating advertising banners with quotations of personalities who became famous in the realms of Science or Reason, but whose convictions went as far as reaching the - endlessly stretched - limits of the human being. What lies ahead is a “light” version of the return of what we repressed after World War II, re-emerging in the wake of Political Correctness and from the ruins of 9/11. However, the aim here is not to disqualify statements which have been deliberately taken out of their context. You can decide to judge or not, and accept or not to be defined only in the indecision of a click.
The whole project as well as those of the other artists can be viewed on http://www.neterotopia.net
I would like to thank very much Johan Hufnagel and Marie Lechner, from Libération, who made it possible to carry out this project.