THE
ACTIONS OF FRED FOREST
50
INSTALLATION / WEB SITE
THE
NETWORKED TERRITORY
IMAGINA
96, GALERIE PIERRE NOUVION, MONACO
JANUARY 1996
http://www.monaco.mc/exhib/territories
The
inauguration of an online version of the artist’s “Territory
of the Square Meter” (i.e., its digital deterritorialzation)
forms the pretext for two public participation initiatives occurring
at the Nouvion gallery. In the first, a digital picture is made
of each visitor upon entering the gallery and is instantly relocated
to a specific square meter parcel of the now worldwide cyber-territory.
In the second, the “Universal Foot Project,” visitors
to both the gallery and the website are invited to have an outline
of one of their feet traced, scanned, and uploaded to an online
database—an effort to lay claim to networked space by literally/virtually
setting foot upon it just like the astronauts who first set foot
on the surface of the moon. The web site—also a “site
of memory” for the artist—featured a series of linked
texts and images. The ironic texts offered a semi-fictionalized
history of the “Territory.” The accompanying imagery
included photos of the interior and grounds of the Territorial “seat
of government” (the artist’s country home in Anserville,
France), private snapshots, and archival material from the artist’s
many projects. Visitors had the option of taking a guided tour by
clicking on “Forward? and “Back” buttons or could
err about the labyrinthine site by clicking on the links in random
order, thereby creating their own version of the artist’s
(e)state/life/career.
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