Page 37 - Fundação MEO - Net Arte no Triângulo das Bermudas

27. See Melo e Castro (1998). Visitors could also consult the Abstraction Now
catalogue. This publication includes the text “Code
Acts” (2004) by Miguel Carvalhais, which was highlighted as a relevant
reading suggestion. Additionally, the presentation of this work
included a paper envelope created by Luísa Ribas to store SWF and
DCR files on a CD, a digital storage format now considered obsolete.
Both Estou Vivo e Escrevo Sol (2016) by poet Rui Torres
and Consumição (2017) by the collective wr3ad1ng d1g1t5 [Diogo
Marques, Carolina Martins, and João Santa Cruz] remain online,
hosted on websites managed by the artists themselves. These
projects required minimal curatorial intervention and were relatively
straightforward to adapt to the exhibition space. The project Estou
Vivo e Escrevo Sol is a poetic work based on a combinatory
structure using the lexicon of António Ramos Rosa. The project
exists in multiple formats – XML (Extensible Markup Language),
JS, TXT (text only, without graphics), HTML, and PDF (Portable
Document Format). In the exhibition, it was projected onto a wall
in its HTML version, which the poet adapted to suit the exhibition’s
lighting conditions. The sound component of the piece was made
accessible through headphones, and the projection was accompanied
by photographs documenting the work’s earlier existence outside the
Internet. The audiovisual and interactive installation Consumição
was presented in a darkened room, where the screen of a tablet,
mounted on a quadrangular base at the centre of the space, was
projected onto one of the walls. Visitors could interact with the
interface via a touchscreen, engaging with the unpredictability of their
interactions with the programmed audiovisual relationships, in which
the graphic and sonic “word” played a key role within an intimate
space. Within the context of this exhibition, the works of Rui Torres
and wr3ad1ng d1g1t5 establish a historical connection with the origins
of techno-artistic practices in Portugal, particularly in the field of
cyberliterature, where the first Portuguese “net artists” emerged. This
is a trajectory that Ernesto Melo e Castro’s concept of “high-tech
art” had already anticipated.
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The works News Reader System (2022) and Sentiments
Datasets (2022) by Rudolfo Quintas are based on a program
developed by the artist, which, when connected to the Internet,
dynamically reads and archives daily news articles from online news-
papers around the world. These projects are part of his ongoing
artistic research News Feed, which investigates the impact of
infodemic phenomena and negative news sentiment on mental
health. In this exhibition, his research materialised in two distinct
formats: News Reader System – an installation featuring

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Sofia Ponte
Sofia Ponte