THE ARCHIVE OF DIGITAL ART (ADA) FEATURES PAOLO CIRIO Check it out: www.digitalartarchive.at The Archive of Digital Art (ADA) features the hacktivist and acclaimed artist, Paolo CIRIO. The new artist feature of the ADA introduces selected artists who are represented in the online archive. It will offer insights into current developments of digital art and the importance of its documentation. In recent years, CIRIO has caused commotion among global companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook by exploiting their technical and economic practices and their strategic exploitation of private data. At the intersection of artistic intervention, social commitment and technological expertise, Cirio was able to unveil the vulnerabilities of international enterprises and politics. Distinguished artworks like “Street Ghosts” (2012), “Persecuting US” (2012), and “P2P Gift Credit Card – Gift Finance” (2010) dealt with issues like privacy and personal data, the international finance markets, copyright and intellectual property, democracy and political participation, and the contemporary surveillance society. In a genuine and highly creative way, Cirio constantly raises awareness for breaking boundaries between personal and corporate spaces and the ethics of contemporary image cultures. Lanfranco ACETI: “Cirio’s realm of artistic activities is based on a critique of contemporary society that touches and rattles, as much as an artwork can, the smooth operations of international corporations.” Christiane PAUL: “As a leading force in ‘hacktivist’ art, Paolo Cirio has shed light on the ways in which today’s networked platforms of data aggregation and social media, from Facebook to e-commerce sites, are shaping the public and private realms.” CIRIO also will receive this years “Prix Ars Electronica” for his hacktivist project “Loophole for all”, which exposed the identities of over 200,000 companies that took advantage of the tax system on the Cayman Islands. For a small amount of money, “Loophole for all” offers these real identities to anyone in order to ‘democratize’ the tax and legal restrictions and to intervene in the global, yet crooked, practices of the financial market. MOST EXTENSIVE DOCUMENTATION OF DIGITAL ART The Archive of Digital Art provides an extensive, constantly evolving documentation of Cirio’s and hundreds of leading artists’ oeuvre. ADA archives artist statements, work descriptions, literature and information on exhibitions and offers high resolution images, blueprints and videos. The large assortment of information on Cirio and his artworks was carried out by the artist in assistance with members of the ADA community. The new ADA web tool allows artists, scholars and scientists to actively contribute to the archive and to work collaboratively on the documentation and analysis of digital art. EXPANDED DOCUMENTATION FOR THE NEEDS OF DIGITAL ART Due to the processual, ephemeral, interactive, technology-based and fundamentally context-dependent character of digital art, it is at risk for becoming extinct without an adequate documentation. Therefore, the ADA is based on an expanded concept of documentation, which takes account of the specific conditions of digital art. THE ARCHIVE OF DIGITAL ART – PIONEER IN THE FIELD Since its foundation in 1999, the Archive of Digital Art (former Database of Virtual Art) has become the most important scholarly online archive for media art. In cooperation with established media artists, researchers, and institutions, it has been documenting the rapidly evolving world of digital art and its related fields for more than a decade and contains today a selection of thousands of artworks at the intersection of art, science, and technology. ARTISTS represented, among many others: Rebecca ALLEN, Suzanne ANKER, Cory ARCANGEL, Roy ASCOTT, Louis BEC, Maurice BENAYOUN, Paolo CIRIO, Charlotte DAVIES, FLEISCHMANN & STRAUSS, Masaki FUJIHATA, Ken GOLDBERG, Agnes HEGEDÜS, Lynn HERSHMAN LEESON, Ryoji IKEDA, Eduardo KAC, Ken RINALDO, KNOWBOTIC RESEARCH, Lev MANOVICH, George LEGRADY, Golan LEVIN, Rafael LOZANO-HEMMER, Joseph NECHVATAL, Michael NAIMARK, David ROKEBY, Jeffrey SHAW, Julius v. BISMARCK, Paul SERMON, Karl SIMS, SOMMERER & MIGNONNEAU, STANZA, Nicole STENGER, THOMSON & CRAIGHEAD, Peter WEIBEL, et al. Advisory board: Christiane PAUL, Roy ASCOTT, Erkki HUHTAMO, Gunalan NADARAJAN, Martin ROTH, et. al. ADA is hosted by Danube University and is partner of the World Conference Series on MediaArtHistories. www.mediaarthistory.org ADA team: Prof. Dr. habil. Oliver GRAU Michaela SEISER (Editor, Community Admin) Sebastian HALLER, Viola RÜHSE, Wendy COONES, Ann-Christin RENN (Editorial Team) digitalart.editor@donau-uni.ac.at www.digitalartarchive.at