In connection with the International Digital Arts Biennial in Montréal, the museum will present the latest installation by Berlin-based artist Carsten Nicolai. This 2011 work, titled unidisplay, explores the notion of a universal language.
In addition to taking part in the Projections series, Nicolai will be featured in the MAC’s Friday Nocturne on May 4 at 7 p.m., when he will use his installation as a platform for a performance, titled univrs (uniscope version), that is sure to attract notice *.
A leading figure in digital creation today, Carsten Nicolai is known for his conceptual and mathematical approach. He is as active in the contemporary art world as on the electronic music scene where, under the stage name alva noto, he amazes audiences with his precise, subtle sounds and visual codes.
Nicolai won the Golden Nica, top prize at the Ars electronica event in Linz, Austria, in 2001, and participated in the 49th Venice Biennale that same year and the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003. His first major solo exhibitions, anti reflex, syn chron and audio visual spaces, were presented at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin and the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst in Ghent. In 2007, the survey show Carsten Nicolai: static fades, mounted by Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich, traced twenty years of his career.
* The performance univrs (uniscope version) was developed using TouchDesigner software, in close co-operation with Derivative, of Toronto (derivative.ca).