The search for (modern) pleasure
A project by MIRA Digital Arts Festival
BROOKE CANDY, CARLOS SÁEZ, CLAIRE TOLAN, ESMAY WAGEMANS, FAITH HOLLAND, FIELD, FILIP CUSTIC, KEIKEN COLLECTIVE + NATI CERUTTI, KRISTEN LEPORE, MARÍA ROY, MARIE MUNK + STINE DEJA, VIRGEN MARÍA.
Pleasure
1. Feeling of intense and deep satisfaction
2. Something that entertains or produces joy
3. S ensual gratification produced by something
4. An event or activity from which one derives enjoyment
Pleasure can be defined as a positive, pleasant or even euphoric sensation or feeling which is experienced by satisfying a need or achieving an objective. The digital era has generated a new form and spectrum of sensory and simulated pleasures, along with the possibility of enjoying them through different platforms in an immediate way.
The concept of hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure as the ultimate goal of human existence, and its relationship with the technological and digital world is a reflection that currently occupies a significant place in contemporary artistic practices. In what way has digitalization facilitated a greater and more immediate connection with hedonism, and how can contemporary artistic practices simulate and generate discourses that evoke this natural search for the sensation of pleasure? How much do we depend on digitalization to evoke pleasurable sensations, and how are artistic practice and methodology molded in this same frame?
In its 8th edition, MIRA Digital Arts Festival presents a new exhibition project at the Centre d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona - Fabra i Coats. “THE SEARCH FOR (modern) PLEASURE” is an exhibition that explores the notion of pleasure within the digital era and delves into the concept of art as a catalyst for experiences, emotions, sensations and stimuli that evoke and promote a hedonistic vision of the human condition.
The exhibition collects the work of different artists and international collectives who explore the methodology of artistic creation as a process that depends on the digitalization and technologization of everyday life and, with a critical approach, pursue the search for visual, sensory and experiential pleasure.
The artistic concept of this edition of MIRA Digital Arts Festival, which promotes and strengthens the union between art and technology, seeks to explore pleasure as a means of artistic expression. The festival programme revolves around the new positions of art in regards to hedonism, and both its graphic campaign and the exhibition approach and display a broad sample of these possibilities.