One Link, Much Great Art

The online exhibition, 'Link-A' reinstates the good old-fashioned web portal in providing access to eleven important and engaging internet-based art projects. Organized by Media Lab Madrid, the show's site is intensely minimal, with each artwork's title and link arranged in a frame, symbolically encompassing the show's heavy subtitle: 'policies of affectivity, aesthetics of biopower.' Each work is included on the basis of its demonstration of 'contemporary affectivity and its technological mediation.' The international roster of participating artists is about as heavy-hitting as the subtitle, and includes Rob Bevan in collaboration with Tim Wright, Laura Bey, Candy Factory, Collective 8552, David Crawford, Jess Loseby, MTAA, Akira Mori, and Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries. Together, their works construct romantic, melancholy, and otherwise richly dramatic narratives about the past, present, and future of individuals and their intersubjective relationships. The show is accompanied by a trio of very thoughtful essays by Franco Berardi, Michael Hardt, and Juan Martin Prada. A broadband access point is offered for the exhibition, at Madrid's Centro Cultural Conde Duuque, through July 23rd, but considering that this is the online equivalent of a blockbuster museum show, you might consider scoping things out from the comfort of your own internet connection. - Marisa Olson