Rebecca Allen

Critical text

The most advanced potentialities of technology and studies on perception through multimedia represent a constant in the research of Rebecca Allen (b. 1953). From the first experiments with computers to investigations of extended reality, for forty years the artist has broken down the barriers between the analogue and digital worlds, transferring the rigor of technological research into the fields of performance and pop culture. The atelier and the research centre become places of creation, while the spaces of viewing vary from the solitary experience of virtual reality visors to the collective experience of large-scale installations capable of hosting performative actions. Simulations of movement, algorithms and artificial intelligence accompany aesthetic research and behavioural studies, opening up spaces of reflection on questions such as animism, exploration of the unconscious and intercultural osmosis. Allen’s many collaborations range beyond the visual arts, including projects with Kraftwerk, Mark Mothersbough (Devo), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Peter Gabriel, Carter Burwell, Twyla Tharp, Joffrey Ballet, La Fura dels Baus and Nam June Paik.

Text by Lorenzo Giusti