‘Dirty New Media’ artist Domenico Barra, who launched a new work titled Pluripotent Cells on Sedition on 17 June, is currently participating in two online events: an art curating group show and an experimental gallery and artist’s network. Barra, also known as Altered_Data, has been one of the driving forces behind both events, which are connected and decentralized.
As introduced in Medium Magazine, White Page Gallery is a fluid online exhibition space and an initiative to support exploratory and experimental art projects. Set up in June 2019, the platform has expanded in response to the Coronavirus crisis, presenting exciting new projects, and building links between artists and art lovers.
The platform is committed to decentralization. Artists are invited to create and share a blank page (White Page Gallery or WPG) on their website and to act as a host, offering their space to other artists and collaborators interested in working together. WPGs are listed in a shared online space, along with resources important for artists working in current times; Black Lives Matter links, Coronavirus survival guides and guides to online exhibition opportunities.
“White Page Gallery/s focus on the social value of artistic curation as its presupposition: the WPG/s network, is based on values such as solidarity, hospitality, inclusion, altruism and mutual support. A distinctive feature of White Page Gallery/s is the absence of hierarchies, gatekeepers and vanity: all those who are part of the network have, in fact, total and independent decision-making ability with respect to the methods, times and artistic projects they choose to exhibit in their online spaces. The focus is therefore shifted from the work to the practice and from the artist to the community.” - Anna Utopia Giordano, Zsolt Mesterhazy, Domenico Barra describing the initiative in Medium.
For Altered_Data’s WPG the artist hosted nine artists in an exhibition titled Ø U T BBB R E∆ K! “Let's make art viral, not the virus.” Featuring work by Fewstr, Claudia Chirianni, Rino Petroziello, Giulia (aged 7), Sara Goodman, Sara Bonaventura, Sabrina Rodriguez, Anna Utopia Giordano, Ángela Leyva, Daniel Temkin, Negin Ehtesabian & Patrick Lichty, Elena Romenkova, Paul Hertz, Matheus Paier, Sofia Crespo (feat. Andrew Pouliot), Francesco Seren Rosso, Ian Keaveney, Martha Hipley, Luca Moncaleano, Systaime, Andrea Roccioletti, Sreć, Heinz Schielmann, Yvana Samandova and Paola Pinna, the exhibition, which remains open until the COVID-19 crisis ends, is a show of solidarity, creativity and collaboration in challenging times. It was featured in Canvas Magazine’s This Is No Rehearsal edition and raised funds for charities nominated by the participating artists.
White Page Gallery/s will be part of Linea Festival in September 2020, pandemic conditions permitting.