Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden

Eva & Franco Mattes’ (both *1976 in Italy, live and work in New York) installations grappled with the effects of technology on our daily lives. They examine the function and distribution of photographs that we regularly reveal on social networks, and that constantly inundate us online. What we see affects how we form our worldview, and the images we view are increasingly controlled by invisible mechanisms. On the basis that the Internet is not a free, utopian place, but a more and more centralized, corporatized and monitored system, the artists make visible the underlying infrastructure and the people who work it. With a good dose of black humor, they sensitize our perception to these dynamics. The starting point of the works is an intensive personal exchange with the people who work for large Internet companies. Based on these individual feedbacks, political and ethical questions surface in the Mattes’ practice with regard to the handling of media images. Due to the ambiguous separation of private and public, Internet users do not only receive media, but also broadcast data with a vast reach that disseminates systems of social norms right up to the strengthening of ideologies. The first solo show by the artist duo in Germany combines new productions with works from the last five years.

Eva & Franco Mattes (both *1976 in Italy, live and work in New York) have been working together since 1995. After solo exhibitions in Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Slovenia, the Netherlands, India, Canada and the USA as well as participation in group exhibitions around the world, solo shows followed in 2021 in the Fotomuseum Winterthur and in the Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden. They have participated in the “Rencontres d’Arles” (2018), the “Yokohama Triennale" (2017), the 20th “Biennale of Sydney” (2016), “Manifesta 4” (2002) and the “49th Biennale di Venezia” (2002). Works are among others in the permanent collections of “SFMOMA” in San Francisco, the “Whitney Museum of American Art”, New York, and the “X Museum” in Beijing.

The exhibition was made possible by the Cultural Office of the State Capital of Wiesbaden, the Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts, the SV SparkassenVersicherung and the Nassauische Sparkasse.