Dates: February 3 – 8, 2012
Location: VIPArtFair.com
Tickets: Visiting VIP 2.0 is free.

“Enter the art world online”. VIP is the only art fair that is exclusively accessible on the internet. The world’s most prominent contemporary art galleries are part of it, and of course most of the works are paintings, sculptures and photographs.

This year Rhizome was asked to participate and curator Lauren Cornell asked me to present my websites in the booth. Doesn’t it make sens to show online artworks at an online art fair?

You can see a video-tour of my booth here.

Press release by Lauren Cornell:

Rhizome is pleased to present a solo exhibition of work by outstanding artist Rafaël Rozendaal, who is known for his trailblazing explorations of the web browser, and for his forward-thinking contributions to the curation and sale of digital art.

Rozendaal is noted not only for his own digital work, but for his inventive, free-form curatorial project BYOBthat has been staged around the world, and his contract that outlines how a browser-based work can be sold. This contract applies to all works for purchase at VIP Art Fair, and is available online here. As an organization dedicated to advocacy of digital art, and education around its history, preservation, and exhibition, Rhizome is proud to share Rozendaal’s contract within the VIP Art Fair as an example of an artist’s bold move towards defining best practices around the sale of digital art. Proceeds from the sale of Rozendaal’s donated works will be split between the artist and Rhizome.

My very cool sister Isabella Rozendaal made this “Finger Battle” animated portrait of me.

Check out her photography website and her website on hunting.

My definition of art is not very strict. I try not to use categories, I try to look at things equally, whether it’s a painting or a movie or a song or a fruit salad. If it’s good it’s good.

The word art has many meanings. People who make art are called artists. They usually operate in the art world, make art, talk about art. There are good artists and bad artists, just like there are good chefs and bad chefs.

What confuses me is this; When someone excels at anything, they will be labeled “artist” as well. “That chef is so amazing, he’s an artist. This is not food I’m eating, it’s art.” In this case the word artist means someone who is so out of the ordinary, someone whose work is so amazing that it changes your ideas of what food can be. It’s not just chefs, anyone who excels can be called an artist; teachers, athletes, lawyers, doctors, anyone.

An amazing artist is an artist, but a bad artist is also an artist.
An amazing chef is an artist, but a regular chef is just a chef.

Doesn’t that seem unfair?

Yesterday was the Aux Raus farewell show. The Punk-Techno (hard to categorize) band decided it was enough… their final show was yesterday. I projected a selection of my websites behind them during the show… check it out.

Thank you to Aux Raus for playing weird music for 8 years!

I remember the classic artist studio. My father is a painter. He who would sit and stare at his paintings for hours, looking and thinking before moving his brush. No phone, no email, just paint and canvas and empty space.

My computer is my studio. It’s not just a place for production, it’s the exhibition, a place for conversation, meetings, research, entertainment, and so on.
I’m a big internet addict, and checking Facebook-Twitter-RSS has become a reflex that is now a part of my muscle memory. Without thinking I will open tabs with social media and before you know it time flies…

I recently reinstalled Blocksite, a browser extension that blocks a list of sites you specify.
I’ve installed Blocksite before, but it turned out I would just bypass it, turn it off, and before you know it I was back in my old rhythm.

I get my best ideas when I’m bored. Sitting in a train, in the bathroom, waiting for the next band at a concert, those are usually the situations where it “happens”. I suppose this weird void of information helps me to focus.

Boredom is not a pleasant feeling. Instinctively I want see cool things all the time. The internet has provided me with more interesting information than I’ll ever be able to absorb.
Chocolate and bacon taste really good but too much of them is a bad idea. I can watch Youtube all day and not create anything, but after a few of those days I’ll start to feel bloated. A good data consumption/production ratio is important.

Boredom doesn’t happen by itself, I have to make an effort to find it.

20 minutes of Facebook per day should be enough.

Here it is, a group-artist-talk at DLD, a series of “quick espresso shots” in the words of curator Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Karen Archey, Cory Arcangel, Ed Fornieles, Oliver Laric, Keller/Kosmas, Jon Nash, and me at the end of the video. We all present our work and talk about how we each use the internet in our own way.

Digital Life Design (DLD) is a global conference network. It was great to meet very different people doing very different things, from scientists to financial software engineers to hackers. Expect some new One Question Interviews soon with people I’ve met at DLD.

My father grew up in olden times. Not that he’s that old, but he grew up on a farm, no TV, no radio, (obviously no internet). A time and place very different from my life right now.

I asked him if he remembered being bored growing up.

“There was no time to be bored! There was so much work! Clothes to wash, cows to milk, shit to shovel, the chores were never ending and exhausting! When chores were done you were happy to sleep.”

I wonder if boredom is a side effect of luxury.

click on images for larger view

In and Out,
installation by Rafaël Rozendaal
at Tetem, Enschede, January 2012.

I’m preparing a new exhibition called “In and Out” at Tetem in Enschede.
Lots of mirrors and projections and sounds in a big space.

Artist talk: Wednesday, January 11 at 19:30
Opening: Thursday, January 12 at 17:00

TETEM kunstruimte
Stroinksbleekweg 16, 7523 ZL Enschede
Tetem.nl

C U there

I am excited to announce that I had 15,140,159 web visits in 2011!

Thank you all for clicking, it truly means a lot.

I wish you a happy and prosperous 2012,

Rafaël Rozendaal.

Click on the images for a larger view.

If you’ve ever tried finding available domain names you know how hard it can be.

Bust a Name .com is a website that makes it a lot easier: enter a few different words and it will start searching for available domain names using combinations of those words.

If you know any other great domain name tools, please let me know in the comments.

I made a new website: like this forever .com

Falling Falling with mirrors
installation by Rafaël Rozendaal
at Nordin Gallery Stockholm, November 2011.

Popular Screen Sizes (60″, 55″, 46″, 40″, 32″, 27″, 24″, 21″, 17″, 15″, 13″, 10″, 7″, 3.5″)
installation by Rafaël Rozendaal
at Nordin Gallery Stockholm, November 2011.