2009
Claudio Rivera-Seguel Claudio Rivera-Seguel is a multidisciplinary artist, curator and consultant specialising in cultural and social initiatives that focus on the intersection of art, science and technology.
P4P A Latin American New Media Public Art Exhibition
The motivation to participate in the Paralelo event in Sao Paulo (March of 2009) was due to my continued interest in the new social, economic and cultural transformations resulting from the introduction and assimilation, by the general public within their social networks, of new creative, productive and communicational Web 2.0 technologies. In this context, the P4P exhibition deals with issues that are a product of this new emerging human condition. All the artists, in different degrees of engagement, have developed unique forms of understanding and representing this new social paradigm. They all seem to understand that in this new social environment, the individual is becoming more and more disassociated with the notions of political dogmas and is becoming its own personal and social administrator. The new media public art works in P4P ex-
plore different aspects of issues derived from this transitional era, and thus give us some initial glimpses into possible future social and environmental scenarios based on a strong sense of social autonomy and functioning within decentralised and horizontal organisational structures. The Paralelo event was key in the development of this intercultural project because it coincided with many of my ideas about ecology and a sustainable future, but most important because it clearly demonstrated the urgency and necessity for these types of discussions. Promoting activities such as Paralelo project in Latin America would help establishing a much needed open dialog between central and marginal cultures. P4P: NEW MEDIA COMPONENT OF THE 2009-2011 VANCOUVER BIENNALE The following exhibition proposal of Latin American New Media Art wishes to explore the theme “in-Transit-ion” in relation to the notion of the exponential acceleration experienced by human evolution – influenced by the incorporation, adaptation and assimilation of new technological, collaborative and knowledge-based associative practice within contemporary culture. The exhibition’s working title, P4P, makes reference to the possibility for our society to make a transition towards a holistic understanding of the social realm. In this context humanity would evolve from the present passive Peer-to-Peer economic, political and social associative model towards a more active Peer-for-Peer collaborative and rhizomatic 203