Eleventh International Conference on The Image

Abstract

During the 58th edition of the Venice Contemporary Art Biennale, the Romanian Pavilion hosted an exhibition project which included two AI digital media installations displayed on medium-sized monitors. Both of the visual corpuses focused on a procedural and participative artistic representation. The artwork mainly aimed to reject the theories stating that the art object is a fixed and singular entity in the broader scheme of art history. The artist transformed the on-screen image into a self-generated and reductive medium of representation, simultaneously stocking and conveying the visual experience. In his own words, he created a type of image with disruptive, dialogical, and metaphysical proprieties, converting the screen into a post-conceptual type of archive. My paper investigates the aesthetic status and functions of the on-screen art imagery framed by Fainaru, covering up a critical analysis of the means of representation and conceptual significance. By questioning the “screen as a medium” hypothesis, I propose a distinct curatorial approach of this type of artistic objects, proving that the digital screen can facilitate a multi-layered and multi-directional perceptive experience. My article investigates the types and lucrative frameworks of the aesthetic judgment involved in the act of turning the screen into an artistic medium. By confronting influential theories of the 20th century regarding the art image (Jerome Stolnitz, Roger Scruton, Edward Bullough, George Dickie and Gary Kemp), I provide several arguments in favor for the usage of the screen as a interface of artistic consumption.