Maurice Benayoun
Maurice Benayoun (aka MoBen or 莫奔) (born 29 March 1957 in Mascara, Algeria) is a French pioneer, contemporary new-media artist, curator and theorist based in Paris and Hong Kong. His work employs various media, including (and often combining) video, computer graphics, immersive virtual reality, the Internet, performance, EEG, 3D Printing, large-scale urban media art installations and interactive exhibitions. Often conceptual, Maurice Benayoun’s work constitutes a critical investigation of the mutations in the contemporary society induced by the emerging or recently adopted technologies.
Last update on 10-03-2023
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Featured Artworks
With Abstract Shots Desire #6, Maurice Benayoun and Tobias Klein take abstraction to another realm. What we see is an informal and freestanding blue shape meandering. Yet the composition pictures a brain-powered representation of the idea of Desire. The artistic duo gives spectators the possibility to shape abstractions with their thoughts and control in real-time the evolution of an artificial organism. Each abstract shape takes the form of an abstract concept: Freedom, Desire, Consciousness, Power. From one participant to the next, the iterations refine, while partially inheriting from predecessors' vision. Far beyond allegories, human abstractions reveal the most human way to understand the world.
Abstract Shots Desire #6
2018
Medium
With Abstract Shots Desire #9, Maurice Benayoun and Tobias Klein take abstraction to another realm. What we see is an informal and freestanding red shape meandering. Yet the composition pictures a brain-powered representation of the idea of Desire. The artistic duo gives spectators the possibility to shape abstractions with their thoughts and control in real-time the evolution of an artificial organism. Each abstract shape takes the form of an abstract concept: Freedom, Desire, Consciousness, Power. From one participant to the next, the iterations refine, while partially inheriting from predecessors' vision. Far beyond allegories, human abstractions reveal the most human way to understand the world.
Abstract Shots Desire #9
2018
Medium
With INTELLIGENCE 0296 from Values of Values by open media artist Maurice Benayoun together with Nicolas Mendoza and Tobias Klein, MoCDA questions whether values are bound to our bodies or transcend physical existence. VoV tokens are more than a GIF or an image; they are a unique neuro-designed 3D model registered on the blockchain. They are Values with Numbers waiting to be collected or traded on VOV.ART platform. INTELLIGENCE 0296 is an ultra-rare NFT #296 in a series of 10,000, which can be swapped, bartered or converted into objects or artworks by its owner. But giving up on INTELLIGENCE 0296 for money is not a simple financial act. It is also a symbolic one, asking visitors to ponder their vision of value.
VoV tokens are more than a GIF or an image, they are a unique neuro-designed 3D model registered on the blockchain. They are Values with Numbers waiting to be collected or traded on VOV.ART platform.
INTELLIGENCE 0296 Value of Values
2019
VoV Token Eth/Matic blockchain, BCI, EEG, AI
With HAPPINESS 0166 from Values of Values by open media artist Maurice Benayoun together with Nicolas Mendoza and Tobias Klein, MoCDA questions whether values are bound to our bodies or transcend physical existence. VoV tokens are more than a GIF or an image; they are a unique neuro-designed 3D model registered on the blockchain. They are Values with Numbers waiting to be collected or traded on VOV.ART platform. HAPPINESS 0166 is an ultra-rare NFT #166 in a series of 10,000, which can be swapped, bartered or converted into objects or artworks by its owner. But giving up on HAPPINESS 0166 for money is not a simple financial act. It is also a symbolic one, asking visitors to ponder their vision of value.
VoV tokens are more than a GIF or an image, they are a unique neuro-designed 3D model registered on the blockchain. They are Values with Numbers waiting to be collected or traded on VOV.ART platform.
HAPPINESS 0166 Value of Values
2019
VoV Token Eth/Matic blockchain, BCI, EEG, AI
With FAITH 0177 from Values of Values by open media artist Maurice Benayoun together with Nicolas Mendoza and Tobias Klein, MoCDA questions whether values are bound to our bodies or transcend physical existence. VoV tokens are more than a GIF or an image; they are a unique neuro-designed 3D model registered on the blockchain. They are Values with Numbers waiting to be collected or traded on VOV.ART platform. FAITH 0177 is an ultra-rare NFT #177 in a series of 10,000, which can be swapped, bartered or converted into objects or artworks by its owner. But giving up on FAITH 0177 for money is not a simple financial act. It is also a symbolic one, asking visitors to ponder their vision of value.
VoV tokens are more than a GIF or an image, they are a unique neuro-designed 3D model registered on the blockchain. They are Values with Numbers waiting to be collected or traded on VOV.ART platform.
FAITH 0177 Value of Values
2019
VoV Token Eth/Matic blockchain, BCI, EEG, AI
With BEAUTY 0525 from Value of Values by open media artist Maurice Benayoun together with Nicolas Mendoza and Tobias Klein, MoCDA questions whether values are bound to our bodies or transcend physical existence. VoV tokens are more than a GIF or an image; they are a unique neuro-designed 3D model registered on the blockchain. They are Values with Numbers waiting to be collected or traded on VOV.ART platform. BEAUTY 0525 is an ultra-rare NFT #525 in a series of 10,000, which can be swapped, bartered or converted into objects or artworks by its owner. But giving up on BEAUTY 0525 for money is not a simple financial act. It is also a symbolic one, asking visitors to ponder their vision of value.
VoV tokens are more than a GIF or an image, they are a unique neuro-designed 3D model registered on the blockchain. They are Values with Numbers waiting to be collected or traded on VOV.ART platform.
BEAUTY 0525 Value of Values
2019
VoV Token Eth/Matic blockchain, BCI, EEG, AI
The Foundry
Events
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Digital Bodies is an online group show curated by Stina Gustafsson, Chloe Diamond, Serena Tabacchi and Marie Chatel featuring works by Cao Fei, Damjanksi, Frenetik Void, Hackatao, Hu Weiyi, Joanne Hastie, Lin Tianmiao, Maurice Benayoun, Miao Xiaochun, Skygolpe, The Fabricant, Travis LeRoy Southworth, and Twistedsister.
“Within the digital realm, the body becomes something we can no longer touch or feel. Often, it stands detached from our actions, forcing us into new ways of associating, observing, and thinking about the body and its relationship to space.
The human body has dominated artistic visions for centuries. With the emergence of new digital instruments comes new ways of exploring what role the body plays in both physical and virtual environments. Fluid boundaries where we alternate between our real and virtual lives imply that our understanding of the body is detached and outdated.
In this exhibition, MoCDA presents artworks that challenge existing notions of the body by exploring the ways in which they are represented across media and how the representation has evolved within a digital sphere. In the first collaboration between the Museum of Contemporary Digital Art and the DSL Collection, presented for CADAF Online 2020, MoCDA seeks to examine the bodily structures that are increasingly challenged and questioned as our daily life is transported, shaped, and augmented by digital technologies.”
(The curators)