6pm Your Local Time, organised by Fabio Paris and Domenico Quaranta of LINK Center for the Arts of the Information Age in Brescia, Italy is a one-night event that brings together studio visits, exhibitions and conferences to be distributed through the #6pmeu hashtag on 6pmyourlocaltime.com, at 18:00 CET on July 22.
These events are mainly experienced through real-time online documentation, expanding on the idea that the record of a work has shifted from being less a representational tool and more the primary experience. A specifically designed web application that aggregates and collects data with the #6pmeu hashtag presents a democratised presentation of work on the 6pm Your Local Time ‘Socialwall’ page. It’s based on an equalized relationship between artist and viewer that can be read as a more formalized discourse on artselfie viewer-based documentation.
Set in their basement, Enrico Boccioletti and Elena Radice present Studio Visit, a “multi-personal exhibition”. Occluding specificity, the description for the Facebook event is a chat extract from the online chat website Omegle. Strangers are asked to disclose the contents of their basement. A discussion about Dr. Dre, dead bodies, Twitter following and ex-girlfriends ensues. The rough surfaces of the basement make for an uncanny atmosphere. Dimly-lit in green and blue fluorescent lights, the basement reveals objects and compositions that resurface like deep secrets only to be concealed again once the viewers have left.
Pierre Clément and Annabelle Arlie’s Temporary Arrangement at Glassbox in Paris functions as a cross between a studio visit and an exhibition, where the works retain a transient relationship to the space. The six pieces on show cohesively present a symbolic juxtaposition, in particular Arlie’s totem-like ‘Candle’ (2015) and Clément’s ‘Still Life’ (2015) and ‘Island’ (2015). Substituting a sedimented signification with assemblages that act as empty shells, the fabricated artefacts and compositions are mostly made-up synthetic and quotidian elements. Suggesting function, yet remaining by and large purposeless, these artefacts open up a discourse on form and functionality.
At Centrale Fies, in Italy’s city of Dro Mara Cassiani presents performance and installation #Ed3n and the Perfect Life. Set up as a luxurious spa, the space is dotted with customized towels embroidered with mantras and affirmations like “Your body your temple” and “Hydrate yourself”. On the one hand, #ED3N… regards the luxurious spa experience as replacing the need for religious and cult-like introspection. It is the new Garden of Eden. The Biblical reference is reconceptualised as a stable ecosystem; a multi-sensorial ritual akin to esoteric prayer practice. On the other hand, …#The Perfect Life refers to market ventures exploiting human desire.
In a private bathroom in Paris, Dustin Cauchi’s 055XB HEXAL plays with material duality and new-found functionality. ‘MTPIXI’, a sculptural work composed of two Manfrotto tripods, is perched over a water-filled basin. As sculpture and reflection become intertwined, it is increasingly difficult to view it as separate from the surrounding space. Common bathroom objects appear in parallel to intrusive structures. One such example is a chrome bin that is fronted by a brushed steel sheet. Hidden away behind a semi-transparent shower door is another lit, tripod sculpture which is connected to the shower plumbing. It is made indiscernible by a constant flow of smoke emanating from behind the door.
The viewers’ interaction with the artworks is observed as tagged photos and videos published in real-time on the 6PM website. This is aggregated data constructing a homogenic platform that sheds light on how online documentation has shifted our understanding of materiality and what a work means today.**
