EMOTION FORECAST // OPEN SKY PROJECT MAURICE BENAYOUN
Biography Artist , theorist and curator , Maurice Benayoun is a pioneering figure in the field of New Media Art . MoBen ’ s work freely explores media boundaries , from virtual reality to large-scale public art installations . Winner of Ars Electronica Golden Nica in 1998 . Maurice Benayoun work is now dedicated to urban media art and Critical Fusion .
Professor at School of Creative Media , City University of Hong Kong .
Talk The Open Sky Project in Hong Kong : artists fighting for the skyline .
In 2012 , we started with the US artist Jim Campbell the Open Sky Project on the highest tower in Hong Kong , the ICC Tower , which happens to hold one of the biggest urban screens in the world with a 70 000 m2 surface . This is the beginning of a rich though complex and rather controversial relation with the institutions , the artists and the art students . We know now that hacking the skyline is not an easy job .
Emotions and Critical Fusion in the urban landscape .
For the past 15 years I have been working on urban media art improving the concept of Critical Fusion : the mix of fiction and reality to decipher the world . From Watch Out ! In Seoul 2002 , to NeORIZON ( Shanghai 2008 ), E-Scape Today ! ( Seoul , 2012 ), Occupy wall Screens ( NYC , 2012 ), Emotions Forecast ( Paris , NY , Berlin … 2011 +) or Cosmopolis in 2005 ( Beijing , ChongQing …), I explored the ambiguous position of the artist in the public space , contributing or challenging the economy of attention .