Shades of Absence: Outside Inside

Shades of Absence: Outside Inside
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Shades of Absence: Outside Inside
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640 × 480

Shades of Absence: Outside Inside
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640 × 480

Shades of Absence
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01:12

Shades of Absence
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00:33

"Shades of Absence: Outside Inside" places silhouettes of artists who have been threatened with arrest or physical violence into the closed curatorial space of the Giardini in Venice. Whether these artists are outsiders or insiders, known internationally or only within a small circle, their work has placed them outside of a protected space.

"Shades of Absence" is a series of augmented reality works created by Tamiko Thiel for the 2011 Venice Biennial, as part of the uninvited augmented reality intervention by the international cyberartist group Manifest.AR.

In "Shades of Absence," images of contemporary artists whose works have been censored are reduced to gold silhouettes and placed in the midst of terms of transgression. Each erased silhouette stands for countless unknown or lesser known artists who face censorship or persecution with no public support. Touching the silhouettes in the display of a smartphone brings up a link to a website listing artists who have been censored - not just the ones depicted, but others as well.