Globalization, art and the art system

Abstract

The author's research interests are: art, technology and democracy. On this latter subject he has published several essays and a book entitled Democrazia elettronica (Carocci, Rome, 2001). As an artist he has worked with digital technologies since the 1980s. One of his best-known works is Computer sigillati (Sealed Computers, 1992): more than 200 machines which are programmed to produce flows of random images and then left to work indefinitely, usually without monitors. His works have been exhibited widely in Europe and the USA. He has put on shows, presentations and performances in Paris, New York , Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney. His latest one-man shows include: Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea (Rome, 2003), WilliamsburgArt& Historical Center (New York, 2003), Museo di Arte ContemporaneaVilla Croce (Genoa, 2005). Latest books on his work: D. Scudero (ed.),Maurizio Bolognini: Installazioni, disegni, azioni (on/off line), (Lithos,2003); and S. Solimano (ed.), Maurizio Bolognini: Infinity out of Control(Neos, 2005). The text that follows was made available to the participants of the international symposion on "Globalization and Local Identity, " organized jointly by the World Society for Ekistics and the University of Shiga Prefecture in Hikone, Japan, 19-24 September, 2005, which the author was finally unable to attend.