ENG-ITA
TRANSICONMORPHOSIS, 2013. Mixed media installation and performance. Variable dimensions.
TRANSICONMORPHOSIS is an interactive artwork developed in collaboration with Fito Segrera that proposes an ambiguous and experimental communication system for the near future, the result of a theoretical reflection on the development of new forms of technological communication, their effects on human beings, as well as their political effects. In TRANSICONMORPHOSIS, a conventional chat service hosted on a computer is interfaced with a series of electrodes connected to the face of the artist; on the other side of the exhibition space another computer allows a member of the audience to chat with the artist. The system focuses on facial expressions, and translates the emoticon received through the chat into electrical impulses that force the artist’s facial features to mimic the expression of each emoticon.
If in the future the possibility of face-to-face communication becomes less widely used and written communication becomes crystallized in a series of immutable forms, humans will lose the empathic abilities that today are, in part, reproduced by emoji and emoticons. If humanity fails to invent new metamorphoses, and new emoji, these devices will be diffused worldwide.
EXHIBITIONS
- PLUNC 2016 – Digital Art and New Media Festival, Museu das Comunicações – Fundação Portuguesa das Comunicações, Lisbon, Portugal
- SIGGRAPH 2014, ACTING IN TRANSLATION, curated by Basak Senova, Vancouver Convention Center, Canada
- EYEBEAM, EMOJI, Art & Design Show, curated by Julia Kaganskiy and Zoe Salditch, NYC, US
(SELECTED) BIBLIOGRAPHY
[INTERVIEW]
Exibart
“Digitale Off Limits: intervista a Emilio Vavarella”
Interview by Maria Chiara Wang, July 2020. (ita)
[WRITTEN CONTRIBUTION]
Low Form. Imaginaries and Visions in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Vavarella, Emilio. “What is it like for a computer bot to be a computer bot?” and “Visual Essay”
Catalogue of exhibition at MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, CURA Editions, 2018 (ita-eng).
[INTERVIEW]
Objects.
“Glitch, quando l’errore diventa arte. Intervista a Emilio Vavarella”
Interview by Maria Chiara Wang, 2018. (ita)
[PDF | SOURCE | ARCHIVED]
[INTERVIEW]
Museo Rimodificato: Art sine Scientia nihil est
“Emilio Vavarella: The Sicilian Family”
interview by Giulia Meloni for Antoni Muntadas Visual Arts Lab at Iuav University of Venice, 2016. (ita)
[PDF]
[WRITTEN CONTRIBUTION]
Leonardo, The Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology
“TRANSICONMORPHOSIS”
MIT Press, vol.47, no.4, 2014. (eng)
[PDF]
[EXHIBITION REVIEW]
Digital Creativity
“Art Space: ACM SIGGRAPH Art Gallery 2014”
Routledge, Volume 25, Issue 4, 2014, pp.360-368. (eng)
[PROJECT]
[PRESS COVERAGE]
The Huffington Post
“Emoji Art Reveals The Dark Side Of The Smiley Face”
2013. (eng)
[PRESS COVERAGE]
The Verge
“Celebrating Emoji: Artists Get Physical with the Classic Smiley Face”
2013. (eng)
[INTERVIEW]
Svenska Dagbladet
“Smileys kan dölja hur vi känner oss”
Interview by Jenny Danberg, 2014. (swe)
[PDF | PROJECT]
[INTERVIEW]
INTERALIA MAGAZINE
“On TRANSICONMORPHOSIS: an Interview with Emilio Vavarella and Fito Segrera”
2015. (eng)
[PRESS COVERAGE]
MASHABLE
“The Emoji Art and Design Show Spotlights the Picassos of Texting”
2013. (eng)
[PRESS COVERAGE]
New York Daily News
“Emoticons are state of the art at new show staged by Eyebeam Art+Technology Center”
2013. (eng)
[PRESS COVERAGE]
BuzzFeed
“12 Pieces Of Art That Will Change The Way You Look At Emojis”
2013. (eng)
[PRESS COVERAGE]
REFINERY29
“Guys, we went to an Emoji Art Show”
2013. (eng)
[PROJECT REVIEW]
DIVA – Jorunal of The Society for Art and Science
“TRANSICONMORPHOSIS”
vol.36, 2014. (jap)
[3D VIDEO INTERVIEW]
MTBS TV
“Interview With Emilio Vavarella”
by Neil Schneider, 2014. (eng)
[VIDEO INTERVIEW]
SIGGRAPH SCOOP
“Art Gallery – Emilio Vavarella: TRANSICONMORPHOSIS”
[ARCHIVED]
2014. (eng)
[PRESS COVERAGE]
Wall Street Journal
“At a Chelsea Gallery, It’s All Smiles”
by Rebecca Bratburd, December 2013 (eng)
[PROJECT REVIEW]
SottoboscoDigitale: Artisti Digitali Italiani
“Emilio Vavarella, Oltre Black Mirror”
by Valeria Crisafulli, 2018 (ita)
[INTERVIEW]
Digicult.
“Thought is my Main Medium. Interview with Emilio Vavarella | Il pensiero è il mio medium principale. Intervista con Emilio Vavarella”
by Giada Totaro, July 2020. (ita-eng)
[SOURCE (ita) | SOURCE (eng) | ARCHIVED]
[BOOK]
Arte e tecnologia del terzo millennio. Scenari e protagonisti [Art and Technology in the Third Millennium: Landscapes and Protagonists]
Catricalà, Valentino and Cesare Biasini Selvaggi, I Quaderni della Collezione Farnesina, Vol. II, Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2020. (ita-eng)
[PDF ]
Special thanks to: Yana Birÿkova and HARVESTWORKS Digital Media Arts Center. Download the software here.