I managed to catch the last day of Villette Numerique 2004, the second biennial show of computer art held at the Grande Halle de La Villette, a stunning park-com-cultural complex in northeastern edge of Paris. Benjamin Weil curated the show, which is titled Power and uses a graphic of an on/off button to hint at the sly humor found throughout the show. But the show really is powerful. One of the most enjoyable I've seen in a while. One of the best things about Power it is that it would have been tempting to fill up the cavernous exhibition space - it's housed in an old meatpacking factory - with another survey of everything new, but Weil clearly made a selection. Not always the right selection (meaning the ones I would have chosen) ;-), but a selection where he is saying that these are works that matter; not just everything that fits. Others have argued the opposite - that because there is no real thematic to the show (which is not wrong), there is no real selection. But for me, the overall pleasure of the exhibition more than made up for this.
The exhibition is an open plan installation and unlike for the exhibition of past Prix Ars winners installed at the Lentos Museum in Linz for Ars Electronica this year, which Weil also curated with Gerfried Stocker, there is enough room for it to work at La Villette. Each piece has its space, but as you look across it, past it, behind it, you have this amazing view of what's up ahead--not just black boxes. Also, almost all the works were working! Congratulations Benjamin and to the artists.
