Curator: Juliette YUAN
Preview | Grand opening : Oct.1st, 2012
Opening for public : Oct.2nd, 2012
Duration : Oct.2nd, 2012 – Mar.31st, 2013
Venue : Shanghai Contemporary Art Museum
N402, 585, Nan Chezhan Rd. Shanghai , China

Roy Ascott is internationally recognized as the pioneer and seminal theorist of cybernetic and telematic art. His work focuses on the impact of digital and telecommunications networks on consciousness (technoetics). As artist he has shown at the Venice Biennale, Milan Triennale, Biennale do Mercosul Brazil, European Media Festival, INDAF 2010 Korea, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris. As consultant he has advised arts councils and media arts institutions in Europe, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Korea, USA and UNESCO. As theorist, his books are widely published in many languages. As educator he is the founding president of the Planetary Collegium, the advanced research network, based in Plymouth University UK with nodes in Kefalonia, Milan, and Zurich. In 2012, Ascott joined DeTao Masters Academy, continues to promote the development of research in art, science, technology and consciousness in China.

ROY ASCOTT: SYNCRETIC CYBERNETICS is the first solo show of the artist in China, taking form of a small scale retrospective that regroups his most representative works from 1964 to present, including the artist’s early drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations, illustrated by selected background documents such as show catalogues, spot photos and documentary video. The major work, La Plissure du Texte: A Planetary Fairytale originally created in 1983 for Frank Popper’s exhibition ELECTRA at the Musee d’Art Moderne de Paris will be shown under four versions at the current Biennial: La Plissure du Texte: A Planetary Fairytale, 1983 (photo documentation); LPDT2 (video recording of the 2010 Second Life version), LPDT3 (3D interactive tabletop installation in Second Life virtual world, 2012); and JOURNEY TO THE WEST: a planetary fairytale (global online writing performance, 2012).

JOURNEY TO THE WEST: a planetary fairytale (global online writing performance, 2012) is the re-activation of La Plissure du Texte in 1983. Based on the same concept of distributed authorship, using the current online communication system instead of the early computer conferencing protocol, the new performance specifically created for the 2012 Shanghai Biennale will involve 50 players around the world assuming the identity of fairytale characters in one of the four classical novels, and developing from that character’s point of view, a rolling narrative online text over the entire period of the Biennale.

Production team
Technical Director: Stavros Didakis
LPDT2 | LPDT3 production: Max Moswitzer (concept, architecture) / Selavy Oh (concept, architecture and code art) / Elif Ayiter (concept, avatar attire and soundscape) / Heidi Dahlsyeen (animations)
LPDT2 further associates: i-DAT, University of Plymouth, UK (Real Life SMS input)