The Marva and John Warnock biennial residency program has quickly become an important catalyst for dialogue encompassing contemporary issues of art making, pedagogy, interdisciplinary and collaborative work, art in the community and art as activism. Mark Brest van Kempen is the fourth artist selected for this bi-annual residency program that aims to expose students to new, innovative, and diverse contemporary art practices, while providing an opportunity for trilateral exchange amongst students, faculty, and the public at large. The artist-in-residence will lead a Master Class that takes the form of intensive workshops throughout the semester.
Eva and Franco Mattes (1976) are an artist duo originally from Italy, working in New York, and the 5th artists selected for the residency. Their medium is a combination of internet, video and installation. Their work explores the ethical and moral issues arising when people interact remotely, especially through social media, creating situations where it is difficult to distinguish reality from a simulation.
Art writer Zach Fischman wrote: "Eva and Franco Mattes make art about information. For the majority of their lengthy collaboration, they’ve looked upon the internet and its rapid expansion with a canny and playful intelligence. Much of their output concerns the internet’s transition, in the last twenty years, from a vast and unregulated network to an increasingly mediated, corporatized, and policed series of standardized communications."
Group exhibition highlights include the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2018); Biennale fur aktuelle Fotografie (2017); Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Etienne (2017); Biennale of Sydney (2016); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2016); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2016); Minneapolis Institute of Arts (2013); Site Santa Fe (2012); Sundance Film Festival (2012); MoMA PS1, New York (2009); Performa, New York (2009, 2007); National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2008); The New Museum, New York (2005) and Manifesta 4, Frankfurt (2002). In 2001 they were among the youngest artists ever included in the Venice Biennale. Solo exhibition venues include Essex Flowers, New York; Postmasters Gallery, New York; Carroll/Fletcher, London; Site, Sheffield; PNCA, Portland; Plugin, Basel.
They are faculty members at the MFA Fine Arts Department and the MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department of the School of Visual Arts, New York.
We are deeply grateful to the Warnock family for their generous support, allowing the department to have ongoing opportunities to engage with artists of this stature. We would also like to thank Dean Scheib, the Marriott Library, and the UMFA through their new ArtLandish series for continued support.
