Angelo Plessas
I AMness
September 21, 2015–January 24, 2016Olympic Tower, Onassis Cultural Centre New York
I AMness is a site-specific installation that comprises a website and a mural exploring the allure of the Internet for modern narcissists. In the virtual universe of the web, the narcissist discards one identity only to reappear in a myriad of aliases. Similarly, the repeating mandalas of I AMness create vivid and hallucinatory visual effects that attract and capture the gaze, dictating the viewer’s perceptual experience. The installation is accompanied online by the website I-amness.com.
Plessas, a Greek-Italian artist based in Athens, investigates the changing role of art and social practice in the time of the Internet through performances, sculptures, installations, books, interactive websites (more than sixty since 2000), and live-stream events. His work focuses on themes of authority and identity, as well as on the nature of abstract emotions experienced through electronic communication. Angelo Plessas recently won the prestigious DESTE Prize 2015 awarded by a distinguished international jury.
I AMness and I-amness.com.were comissioned by the Onassis Cultural Center NY for the Onassis Festival NY 2015 Narcissus Now: The Myth Reimagined.
The Art Wall remains on view through January 24, 2016 in the Olympic Tower Atrium; daily 8 am to 10 pm.
