What We Know
an Exhibition of
Neen Works

Miltos Manetas, Angelo Plessas, Rafaël Rozendaal, Nikola Tosic, and The Angelo Foundation

Screening: "Existential Computing" by Miltos Manetas

Skype poetry reading by Nikola Tosic

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

ATS computer lab
(rms. 415 & 417)

112 S. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL

10 October 2008 - ...

Curated by Cayce H. L

About Neen: Neen.org (2008), Rhizome.org's Net Art Anthology (2017)

In 2008, works by Angelo Plessas and Rafaël Rozendaal installed on the monitors of the Art and Technology Studies computer lab at SAIC. The artists' websites--artworks in the single-serving domain format--were set as the homepage of each machines' default browser so that when a student first opens the application the artwork appears. Each artist occupied opposite rows of computers, with their monitors uniformly tilted towards or away from the door.

The exhibition deteriorated as the computer lab was used:
Students changed the browsers settings to load more useful webpages. One-by-one the computers stopped displaying artworks.
Potted palm trees were placed on either side of the projection screen to give the effect of tropical islands featured in the first level of video games. The plants died or were taken home by faculty.
Eventually someone took the "Wireless Manetas" painting home with them, or to their painting studio to reuse the canvas.

Left to right: futurephysics .com (2007), viaavanti .com (2006), theendofreason .com (2004), whywashesad .com (2003), by Rafaël Rozendaal.
On the rear wall of the computer lab hung a "Wireless Manetas" painting, designed after Miltos Manetas' 1997 painting, PATIENTS (the architect with his laptop), with all technology painted out.

The scent of coffee accompanied the exhibition to give an impression of working being done at night

Angelo Plessas, Talkingandwalking .com, 2006

The Angelo Foundation website advertising Robot Poetry Readings.

Neen clocks purchased from Cafepress and arranged like a Félix González-Torres.

Angelo Plessas, Iwanttobeamachine .com, 2008

Rafaël Rozendaal, Viaavanti.com, 2008

Angelo Plessas, Anamaleggra .com, 2007

Angelo Plessas, Talkingandwalking .com, 2005

Nikola Tosic, rules of the computer lab, 2008
Poster and website commissioned for the exhibition (text below).

rules of the computer lab

We are at war and you are a soldier - even if you do not know it. War is always around us. Our survival is always at stake. If you do not know it you are a fool. If you do know it, it still does not mean you are not a fool.

We are in a fight against an evil force of numerous enemies. These enemies are very very smart and they work very very hard. They are fuelled by hunger for destruction. They will never stop. They are far superior in every way. We can only hope that we work and that we get smarter. Otherwise we will be exterminated.

Your work is crucial for our survival and our victory. It is also your survival and your victory. You must destroy yourself if this is what it takes to make progress. You are only one of many but your sacrifice will help our survival and victory.

When you come here to work give everything you have, the essence of your body and mind must be focused only on the success of your work which is again dedicated to our survival and victory. Anything less is betrayal.

If you see that any of your colleagues are not giving everything they can then report them and we will teach them how to improve. If someone is not doing their work then they must be improved or we will all die and disappear.

We must win! We must survive!

Thank you.

Nikola Tosic, Rulesofthecomputerlab .com, 2008

"Wireless Manetas" was a project to eliminate all technology from Miltos Manetas paintings. A suite of paintings was produced by a Vatican painter, residing in Texas from 2006-2008, using Photoshop and following the guidelines of the "Neen Dogma of Painting" (Miltos Manetas, Francescobonami .com, 2003).