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{{short description|French visual artist and theorist}}
{{short description|French visual artist and theorist}}
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'''Maurice Benayoun''' (aka '''MoBen''' or 莫奔) (born 29 March 1957) is a French pioneer, contemporary new-media artist, curator and theorist based in [[Paris]] and [[Hong Kong]].<ref>Paul Catanese, ''Director's Third Dimension: Fundamentals of 3d Programming in Director 8.5'', Sams Publishing, 2001, p314. {{ISBN|0-672-32228-5}}</ref> 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.
'''Maurice Benayoun''' (aka '''MoBen''' or 莫奔) (born 29 March 1957) is a [[French people|French]] [[New media art|new-media artist]], [[curator]], and theorist based in [[Paris]] and [[Hong Kong]].<ref>Paul Catanese, ''Director's Third Dimension: Fundamentals of 3d Programming in Director 8.5'', Sams Publishing, 2001, p314. {{ISBN|0-672-32228-5}}</ref>


His work employs various media, including [[video]], [[computer graphics]], [[immersive virtual reality]], the Internet, [[performance]], [[EEG]], [[3D Printing]], large-scale urban media art, robotics, [[NFT]]s, and [[Blockchain]] based artworks, installations and [[interactive]] exhibitions.
His work employs various media, including [[video]], [[computer graphics]], [[immersive virtual reality]], the Internet, [[performance]], [[EEG]], [[3D Printing]], large-scale urban media art, robotics, [[NFT]]s, and [[Blockchain]] based artworks, installations and [[interactive]] exhibitions.


==Biography==
==Early life==
Born in [[Mascara, Algeria|Mascara]], [[Algeria]], in March 1957, as a war orphan. His father was killed before his birth in the Algerian independence war. He moved to France in 1958, following his mother and his brother, to live in popular suburbs in north Paris where the family stayed during most of his childhood.
He was born in [[Mascara, Algeria|Mascara]], [[Algeria]], in March 1957, as a war orphan. His father was killed before his birth in the Algerian independence war. He moved to France in 1958, following his mother and his brother, to live in popular suburbs in north Paris where the family stayed during most of his childhood.


==Education==
==Video art and computer graphics==
Bennayoun's doctorate thesis at the Sorbonne, ''Artistic Intentions at Work, Hypothesis for Committing Art'', was published in 2011.<ref>Maurice Benayoun, ''The Dump, 207 Hypotheses for Committing Art'', bilingual (English/French) Fyp éditions, France, July 2011, {{ISBN|978-2-916571-64-5}}</ref>
Taught in Contemporary and Fine Arts at [[Pantheon-Sorbonne University]], Benayoun's practice rapidly moved from painting and photography to video, and [[computer graphics]]. In the 1980s, Benayoun directed video installations and short videos about contemporary artists, including [[Daniel Buren]] (1983), [[Jean Tinguely]], [[Sol LeWitt]] and [[Martial Raysse]] (1985). He keeps from his Fine Arts background, a critical and conceptual approach to practice.


==Career==
In 1987 he co-founds Z-A Production (1987-2003), a [[computer graphics]] and [[Virtual Reality]] private lab, that became one of the key companies in the field in France during the '90s. This is where he started exploring the potential of advanced media.

Between 1990 and 1993, Benayoun collaborated with Belgian graphic novelists [[François Schuiten]] and philosopher [[Benoît Peeters]] on ''[[Quarxs]]'', the first animation series made of HD computer graphics, exploring variant creatures with alternate physical laws.<ref name=Wilson705>Stephen Wilson, ''Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology'', MIT Press, 2002, p705. {{ISBN|0-262-73158-4}}</ref> From the pilot (1991) to the series broadcast in prime time in 1993, ''Quarxs'' received numerous international awards.

== Interactive Art, Virtual and Augmented Reality==
In 1993, he received the ''Villa Medicis Hors Les Murs'' award([[:fr:Villa Médicis hors les murs|fr]]) for his ''Art After Museum'' project, a virtual reality contemporary art collection.

After 1994 Benayoun was involved with more virtual-reality and interactive-art installations. One important work from this period includes ''[[The Tunnel under the Atlantic]]'', completed in 1995. For his first solo show, Maurice Benayoun was presenting a virtual reality installation linking two art museums: the [[Centre Pompidou|Pompidou Center in Paris]] and the [[Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal]].<ref>Lars Qvortrupp, ''Virtual Space: Spatiality in Virtual Inhabited 3d Worlds'', Springer, 2002, p222. {{ISBN|1-85233-516-5}}</ref> More than a technical performance, that it was too as the first intercontinental virtual reality artwork, this installation was a one-of-a-kind example of what Maurice Benayoun calls ''architecture of communication'', another way to explore the limits of communication presaging the rise of the [[phatic function]] in human communication induced by network technologies.

''World Skin, a Photo Safari in the Land of War'', created together with the composer [[Jean-Baptiste Barrière]], is an immersive installation often presented as a reference in [[virtual art]]. One of the first virtual reality works with a non-technology-oriented content: the relation between, war, personal engagement, and memory, ''World Skin'' was awarded the Golden Nica, [[Prix Ars Electronica]] 1998, the major distinction in interactive arts.
[[File:Worldskin.jpg|thumb|250px|''World Skin'' (1997), Maurice Benayoun's Virtual Reality Interactive Installation]]
[[File:Worldskin.jpg|thumb|250px|''World Skin'' (1997), Maurice Benayoun's Virtual Reality Interactive Installation]]
Benayoun taught in contemporary and fine arts at [[Pantheon-Sorbonne University]]. In 1987 he co-founded Z-A Production (1987–2003), a [[computer graphics]] and [[virtual reality]] private lab.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}


Between 1990 and 1993, Benayoun collaborated with Belgian graphic novelists [[François Schuiten]] and philosopher [[Benoît Peeters]] on ''[[Quarxs]]'', the first animation series made of HD computer graphics, exploring variant creatures with alternate physical laws.<ref name=Wilson705>Stephen Wilson, ''Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology'', MIT Press, 2002, p705. {{ISBN|0-262-73158-4}}</ref>
==Interactive exhibition design==
The ''Navigation Room'' (1997, exhibition ''New Image, New Networks'') and ''The Membrane'' (2001) were created for the [[Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie]] in Paris. The ''Navigation Room'', could be considered as the prototype of the interactive educative exhibition, immersive with personalized visits and content, automatically generating a web page dedicated to each visitor. ''The Membrane'' (2001) — the core of the exhibition ''Man Transformed'' — was a large surface breathing and ''feeling'' the presence of the visitors, digesting and distributing information in constant physical dialog with the public. Benayoun defined this as ''organic design''. ''The Panoramic Tables'' for the ''Planet of Visions'' pavilion for Hanover EXPO2000, directed by [[François Schuiten]], was an innovative application of [[augmented reality]]. In 2006, with the architect Christophe Girault, they created ''War and Peace'', the permanent exhibition inside the [[Arc de Triomphe]], Paris, that opened in February 2007. ''War and Peace'' questioned the significance of a national monument dedicated to Napoleon's Army. The exhibition was destroyed in fall 2018, during the [[Yellow vest movement]] in Paris.
After ''Art Impact'' ([[Pompidou Center]], Paris, 2000) where he used for the first time VR binoculars to share the experience of watching (the ''Collective Retinal Memory'') Benayoun conceived and directed the exhibition ''Cosmopolis, Overwriting the City'' (2005), a large scale art and science immersive installation presented during the French Year in [[China]] in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Chongqing. This immersive exhibition received in Shanghai up to more than ten thousand visitors per day. This was Maurice Benayoun's first experience in China, and the reception by the public played an important role in later Benayoun's move to Asia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scm.cityu.edu.hk/profile/M.BENAYOUN|title = BENAYOUN, Maurice &#124; School of Creative Media}}</ref>
Benayoun initiated in 2005 the series of works ''Mechanics of Emotions'' presents the Internet as the ''world nerve system'' and 'World's emotions'' as a possible material for the new metaphoric model of the economy. In this series, Benayoun produced many installations and urban art projects during the 10 years that followed.


For his first solo show, Benayoun presented a virtual reality installation linking two art museums: the [[Centre Pompidou|Pompidou Center in Paris]] and the [[Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal]].<ref>Lars Qvortrupp, ''Virtual Space: Spatiality in Virtual Inhabited 3d Worlds'', Springer, 2002, p222. {{ISBN|1-85233-516-5}}</ref> Benayoun conceived and directed the exhibition ''Cosmopolis, Overwriting the City'' (2005), an art and science immersive installation presented during the French Year in [[China]] in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Chongqing. This was Maurice Benayoun's first experience in China, and the reception by the public played an important role in later Benayoun's move to Asia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scm.cityu.edu.hk/profile/M.BENAYOUN|title = BENAYOUN, Maurice &#124; School of Creative Media}}</ref>
==Urban Media Art==
Benayoun started to work on urban media in 2002, with ''Watch Out!'' in Seoul, an urban installation about surveillance commissioned by the Art Center Nabi. In 2008, he exhibits in Shanghai streets ''NeORIZON'', a large-scale urban art installation that converts the public into QR codes that become the building blocks of the city.
From the series ''Mechanics of Emotions'', he produced many urban screen artworks, ''Emotion Forecast'' (2011, Paris, 2012 New York, São Paulo, Berlin, Melbourne, Hong Kong).
To extend his vision of Urban Media Art, Maurice Benayoun launched in 2014, as a curator, the ''Open Sky Project'', inviting artists (the ''Open Sky Gallery''), and MFA students (the ''Open Sky Campus'') to conceive and present works displayed one of the largest screens in the world at the time, the Hong Kong ICC media façade (70,000 sqm). This program offered more than 100 artists and students the opportunity to exhibit their work in the public space.


=== Key concepts ===
==Education, teaching, and lectures==
Open Media, in 2000, considered his works as a form of ''Open Media Art'', paraphrasing [[Jon Ippolito]], not limited to the traditional forms, media and economic schemes of art, but also not necessarily based on a specific medium, digital or using technologies. Open takes here the sense of freedom in the means of expression.<ref>Timothy Murray, [[Derrick de Kerckhove]], [[Oliver Grau]], [[Kristine Stiles]], Jean-Baptiste Barrière, [[Dominique Moulon]], Jean-Pierre Balpe, ''Maurice Benayoun Open Art'', Nouvelles éditions Scala, 2011, French version, {{ISBN|978-2-35988-046-5}}</ref>
To finance his studies, he became 1978 a secondary school teacher in fine arts and literature. Benayoun graduated in Fine Arts ([[Pantheon-Sorbonne University]]) in the early 1980s when he was already teaching full-time. He was awarded in 1982 with [[Agrégation]] d’Arts Plastiques, a highly competitive degree in the French education system leading to a tenure position, opening the doors of University teaching.
From 1984 to 2010 he was an assistant professor at Paris 1 University, Pantheon-Sorbonne, where he was co-founder and art director of the '''CITU''' research center (Création Interactive Transdisciplinaire Universitaire) together with Paris 8 University. CiTu, dedicated to research and creation in the emerging forms of art, is where he developed many National, European and International collaborative Art and Science research programs.
In 1995 – 1997, Benayoun was the Invited Artist and Professor at [[ENSBA]], the French National School of Fine Arts.
In 2008 Maurice Benayoun submitted his [[blog]], ''The-Dump.net'', a dump of undone art projects, as a doctorate thesis entitled: ''Artistic Intentions at Work, Hypothesis for Committing Art'' at Université Paris 1, La Sorbonne. Supervised by Prof. Anne-Marie Duguet, the Ph.D. thesis was awarded "mention très honorable, avec felicitations du jury" (First-Class Honors with Distinction). The defense in front of an international examination panel, including Prof. [[Derrick de Kerckhove]], Prof. [[Hubertus von Amelunxen]], Prof. Jean da Silva, and the artist Louis Bec. The thesis was published in 2011,<ref>Maurice Benayoun, ''The Dump, 207 Hypotheses for Committing Art'', bilingual (English/French) Fyp éditions, France, July 2011, {{ISBN|978-2-916571-64-5}}</ref> was a performance fully video recorded.


Infra-realism – (Infra-realisme in French, could be interpreted as 'sub-realism') was coined in the early 90s to describe the specificity of the new form of realism emerging from 3D computer graphics. During the production of [[Quarxs]] (1989–1993), the author, Benayoun wanted to identify the difference between visual realism based on the transcription of how the world reflects light, and what he called Infra-realism, or "realism of the depth" or "the deep realism behind the surface".<ref>Madsen, Kim H., Qvortrup, Lars. "Production Methods: Behind the Scenes of Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds." Springer Science & Business Media, 6 Dec. 2012 (1st edition 2002) - pp. 53-54. {{ISBN|1447100638}}, 9781447100638</ref>
In 2010, Benayoun became an associate professor at Paris 8 University. The same year he co-founds Arts-H2H Labex (Lab of Excellence) a research lab led by [[Paris 8 University]] envisioning art as an advanced form of human mediations (H2H = ''Human to Human''). In August 2012, he becomes a full Professor in the School of Creative Media of [[City University of Hong Kong]]. He is Chair of the School of Graduate Studies and the Ph.D. program (2014-2018), head and founder of the Neuro-Design Lab.

Maurice Benayoun gave close to 400 invited and Keynote lectures in major universities and international conferences. This includes [[Columbia University]], [[Cornell]], [[Duke]], [[UCLA]], [[UCSD]], [[UCSB]], [[San Francisco Art Institute|SFAI]], [[Parsons School of Design]], [[University of Toronto]], [[University College London|UCL]], [[Goldsmiths, University of London|Goldsmiths]], [[Ecole Polytechnique]], [[ENS Ulm]], [[Keio University]], [[Central Academy of Fine Arts]]...

== Key concepts ==

=== Critical Fusion ===
When applied to the relation between the symbolic and the public space, Maurice Benayoun calls '''Fusion''' the mix of Fiction and Reality. It leads to what [[Guy Debord]] calls ''the Society of the Spectacle''. Metaphorically, the name is inspired by a compound of ''Critical Mass'' and ''Nuclear Fusion'', 'Critical Fusion' is the practice of Fusion when the introduction of Fiction is a way to make visible the invisible instead of hiding the reality: "the fusion of fiction and reality to decipher the world".<ref>Maurice Benayoun, Josef Bares, ''Urban Media Art Paradox: Critical Fusion vs Urban Cosmetics'' in ''What Urban Media Art Can Do: Why, When, Where and How'', Susa Pop, Tanya Toft, editors, AVedition publisher, 2016, pp.&nbsp;81–89, 450–453, {{ISBN|978-3899862553}}</ref><ref>https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/publications/critical-fusion</ref>

'''History of the concept''':
Maurice Benayoun first introduced the concept of Critical Fusion to define his action in the virtual or physical public space. ''Watch Out!'' installation (2002) in the streets of Seoul, confront the citizens to the thin line that separates Big Brother and his victims. With ''NeORIZON'' urban installation in Shanghai (2008) and the series ''Mechanics of Emotions'', following the same principle: Using facts, data, to present the emotional state of the World in the present and in the future (''Emotions Forecast'', 2011).

=== Urban Cosmetics ===
Maurice Benayoun talks about ''Urban Cosmetics'' when the work of the artist attempts to beautify the City through entertainment and decoration.
''Urban Cosmetics'' is the opposite of ''Critical Fusion''.

'''History of the concept''':
The concept of ''Urban Cosmetics'' was first introduced during the [[Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts|ISEA]] Conference in Sydney, 2013. The conference was held during the ''Vivid Sydney'' festival. This concept became instrumental in legitimating the artist's intervention in the public space, to describe what should be avoided, or simply not considered as a consistent artistic practice.

=== the Global Body ===
After [[Marshall McLuhan]]'s ''Global Village'', the status of human interactions has been altered by the development of information networks. Maurice Benayoun presents the Internet as the '''World Nervous System''. Any of the connected people become like nerve endings, capturing, transmitting and sharing information. The interconnected world becomes equivalent to a ''Global Body''. Anything affecting a part of the body is immediately felt by the entire body.

'''History of the concept''':
The concept is frequently used by Benayoun since 2008.<ref>Benayoun, M., ''The Nervous Breakdown of the Global Body, an Organic Model of the Connected World'', in Proceedings of Futur en Seine 2009, ed. Cap Digital, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-4466-7929-6}}.</ref>

=== Extended Relativity ===
A model from physics to understand the subjective curvature of the urban space and its impact on urban navigation. This model allowed Maurice Benayoun to create ''KITSUN'', a subjectivity-based mobile compass for urban survival. He signed two papers together with his homonym Maurice Benayoun, a nuclear Physics scientist.<ref>Benayoun, M., Benayoun, M., IMI, James Edward, An Example of Extended Relativity Applied to Urban Navigation, in Architecture, City and Information Design, EuropIA.14, Edited by Prof. Khaldoun Zreik, publish. Europia Productions, Paris, Sept. 2014, pp. 1-14, {{ISBN|979-10-90094-18-5}}</ref> Benayoun coined the name ''Web Cubed'' or '''Web<sup>3</sup>''' (''Urban Web Cube'' project, 2010) to express the next level in the evolution of technologies, from Web 2.0, Web 3.0 (localized), the Web<sup>3</sup> integrated the subjectivity in the dimensions of the mobile networks.

=== Neuro-design ===
''Neuro-design'' is a method of design based on [[Brain–computer interface|BCI]], Brain-Computer Interaction. The Neuro-design is far from being a mental projection of ideas from the brain to machines but the assessment of dynamic forms through the observation of the ''designer's'' positive or negative reactions during the [[biofeedback]] process. ''Neuro-design'' is a form of physically-passive interaction based on a feedback loop between the computer-generated shape, considered as an artificial life form, and the brain considered as the ecosystem where the form should evolve to survive. The transmission of the resulting shape from one user to another is a form of inheritance, and the dominant shape descriptors are inherited by the following ''designer'' creating a chain of iterations supposed to convert gradually an individual design into a collective process based on the participative assessment of the resulting shape.

'''History of the concept''':
The concept has been developed while working on the ''Brain Factory'' project (Hong Kong, 2014), an extension of the ''Big Reificator'' Project (Paris, 2011). ''Value of Values, Transactional art on the Blockchain'', 2019, is also based on Neuro-Design.

=== Sublimation vs Reification<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://benayoun.com/moben/2017/08/29/artificial-intelligence-all-too-human/|title=Artificial Intelligence, All Too Human|date=29 August 2017}}</ref> ===
Maurice Benayoun identified two main trends affect the evolution of the human experience of materiality.
Borrowing the term from chemistry, ''Sublimation'' is the operation converting the world into data that can be treated at the same time by natural or artificial intelligence. This allows the cognitive integration of the physical as well as its absolute control.
Coming from [[Karl Marx]], ''Reification'' is the conversion of thoughts into objects. The process requires EEG (Electro Encephalography) and BCI (Brain-Computer Interaction) in association with construction technologies like [[3D Printing]].

'''History of the concept''':
These concepts contributed to the theoretical foundations of the series of works the ''Big Reificator'' that became later the ''Brain Factory'' developed in collaboration with Tobias Klein.

=== Maieutic Engine ===
In 2011, the ''eGonomy'' research project developed the technology behind the '''Maieutic Engine'''<ref>“The Maieutic Engine, beyond recommendation in cultural data”. Museums and the Web, Conference, Hong Kong, 2013</ref>, an intuitive image search engine based on behavior analysis and passive queries. The ''Maieutic Engine'' is inspired by Socrates' ''Gnothi Seauton'' (in Greek, know thyself). The user is invited to explore a huge database of images and the engine gradually refines the recommendation. The ''Maieutic Engine'' is based on an n-dimensional vectorial database. The user follows ones' ''inclination'' like the water following the line of greater slope. Applications include the image database of the French Réunion des Musées Nationaux with more than 800,000 pictures from the French National museums.

'''History of the concept''':
The origin of ''eGonomy'' comes back to 1995, when Maurice Benayoun was conceiving the ''Tunnel under the Atlantic''. Virtually digging into a database of images, the visitors improved gradually the quality of their findings. Back then, this first engine was called ''Gadevu'', from the Quebec expression ''arrangé par le gars des vues'' meaning: 'made to succeed like in a movie'. This intuitive recommendation engine based on serendipity, became later ''eGonomy''. The research program included many partners like the [[Pompidou Centre]], Paris 8 and Lyon 2 universities and the CEA (French National Atomic Research Center).

=== Transactional Aesthetics ===
''Transactional aesthetics'' is an art practice based on using the exchange, the transaction of information material, process, data, artworks, as a medium.
<ref>Benayoun, M., "The Art Collider, an ecosystem for transactional creation", conference Columbia University, New York City, NY, 1 February 2012</ref>

'''History of the concept''':
Maurice Benayoun developed the concept around the ''IN OUT'' project (2008)<ref>La création transactionnelle, Architecture du système In/Out de Création P2P, March 2008, https://www.academia.edu/35833643/La_cr%C3%A9ation_transactionnelle_Architecture_du_syst%C3%A8me_In_Out_de_Cr%C3%A9ation_P2P</ref>, a participative experiment based on "connective creation" or "Peer to Peer" creation. With the development of the online, on-site project, it became soon ''The Art Collider'', "a network of artworks" involving [[San Francisco Art Institute|SFAI]], San Francisco Art Institute, UC Berkeley, Cornell University, and many other international partners such as ΑΑΟ project, [[Lina Stergiou]], making artworks that feed each other, questioning the concept of intellectual property and ''ex nihilo'' creation.<ref>Benayoun, M., "Art Collider: Towards Transactional Aesthetics," in [[Lina Stergiou]], ed., ''AAO Project: Ethics/Aesthetics'' (Athens: Benaki Museum and Papasotiriou, 2011), pp.47-59, [International Conference Proceedings] {{ISBN|978-960-491-026-7}}.</ref>

Related projects:
Other projects like ''the Dump'', and the ''Opendump'', are online platforms to share undone art projects, eventually inviting artists to realize the already published project are typical ''Transactional Aesthetics''. The ''Social Collider'' interactive urban actions envision how human transactions, aesthetic and social paradigms can be carefully and openly reconsidered.
Later, ''VoV, The Values of Values'' (2018) Blockchain-based Crypto Currency art project is probably the most explicit transactional art project.

=== Open Media ===
From the year 2000, considered his works as a form of ''Open Media Art'', paraphrasing [[Jon Ippolito]], not limited to the traditional forms, media and economic schemes of art, but also not necessarily based on a specific medium, digital or using technologies. Open takes here the sense of freedom in the means of expression.<ref>Timothy Murray, [[Derrick de Kerckhove]], [[Oliver Grau]], [[Kristine Stiles]], Jean-Baptiste Barrière, [[Dominique Moulon]], Jean-Pierre Balpe, ''Maurice Benayoun Open Art'', Nouvelles éditions Scala, 2011, French version, {{ISBN|978-2-35988-046-5}}</ref>

=== Infra-realism ===
(Infra-realisme in French, could be interpreted as 'sub-realism') has been coined in the early 90s to describe the specificity of the new form of realism emerging from 3D computer graphics.

'''History of the concept''':
During the production of [[Quarxs]] (1989–1993), the author, Maurice Benayoun wanted to identify the difference between visual realism based on the transcription of how the world reflects light, and what he called Infra-realism, or "realism of the depth" or "the deep realism behind the surface"<ref>Madsen, Kim H., Qvortrup, Lars. "Production Methods: Behind the Scenes of Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds." Springer Science & Business Media, 6 Dec. 2012 (1st edition 2002) - pp. 53-54. {{ISBN|1447100638}}, 9781447100638</ref> where, beyond the perceptive appearance, shapes stem from the application of principles coming from physics, optics, chemistry, or biology. We could call this [[wikt:procedural|procedural]], [[wikt:parametric|parametric]], [[wikt:generative|generative]], or [[biomimetic]] simulation. To illustrate the concept, Maurice Benayoun used during his talks and lectures, to differentiate visually represented water - as light effects that can be translated into shades, or colors - and the same effects generated thanks to fluid simulation and light propagation algorithms. 3D graphics allow us to "simulate" clouds, water, smoke but also behavior like flocks of birds or fishes... Even light reflection becomes an application of physical phenomenons. more than the automatization of visual analogy as practiced by painters and photographers, 3D computer graphics realism becomes an activation of the sub-layer of reality. The success in the 21st century of algorithmic tools like [[Processing (programming language)]] or particles simulators, animating the pixels following the model of physical laws reflects the empowerment of infra-realism that doesn't need anymore the figurative dimension of early computer graphic animations.

==== In virtual reality and augmented reality ====
Based on [[Real-time computer graphics|real time]] graphics, [[virtual reality]] and [[augmented reality]] make an extensive use of infra-realism. The VR artworks created after 1993 by Maurice Benayoun like "Is the Devil Curved" or the "Tunnel under the Atlantic" often refer to the concept of infra-realism even regarding the use of [[artificial intelligence]].

=== SAS ===
In a seminal text, ''Art After Museum'' (1993), Benayoun coins SAS as any kind of interface that allows to go from the physical space to the virtual reality space. Explaining the technology may evolve, but the necessity to have a transition from the "real" to the space of fiction that we call "Virtual Reality". SAS is a French word coming from Latin, that designs the apparatus that allows us to go from a human-compatible space to a more "hostile" environment. The airlock system in a submarine or the double door system in a bank are a "sas". So are the CAVE VR system or the VR Head Mounted Display.<ref>{{Cite document|url=https://www.academia.edu/35875208|title=AME: ART AFTER MUSEUM - Virtual Reality Art collection|last1=Benayoun|first1=Maurice}}</ref> The SAS Cube created in 2000–2001, was the first PC based cube of Virtual Reality.

=== Behavioural Design ===
In 2003, Benayoun presents in Marseilles, France, a performance/conference anticipating the future of the Internet of Objects, [[Internet of things|IoT]]. He describes the behavior of objects in our environment that have a strong social impact and alter deeply our daily life. He suggests avoiding an excessive submissive behavior that would amplify our natural inclinations and limit the potential of the ''unexpected''. In an ironic fictional research project, He proposes the creation of an "Integrated Psychic Disorder Generator".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://benayoun.com/moben/2003/04/29/un-generateur-de-failles-psychologiques-integre/|title = Un Générateur de Failles Psychologiques Integré|date = 29 April 2003}}</ref> The ''Behavioural Design'' is the design of connected and AI-driven objects based on social concerns and artificial life models.

=== H2H, Human to Human ===
In reaction to the excessive use of acronyms such as ''B2B'' (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) that reduces human interactions to mere commercial transactions, Benayoun proposes to consider mediated interactions as ''H2H'': ''Human to Human'' generalizing the use of the acronym to all human mediations. He contributed to the definition of the Lab of excellence of Paris 8 university naming it "ARTS H2H".


==Selected awards==
==Selected awards==
{{BLP sources section|date=November 2021}}
[[File: LE TUNNEL SOUS L'ATLANTIQUE Paris.jpg|thumb|250px|''Tunnel under the Atlantic'' (1995), Maurice Benayoun's Virtual Reality Installation]]
[[File: LE TUNNEL SOUS L'ATLANTIQUE Paris.jpg|thumb|250px|''Tunnel under the Atlantic'' (1995), Maurice Benayoun's Virtual Reality Installation]]
[[File:COSMOPOLIS.jpg|thumb|250px|''Cosmopolis'' (2005), Maurice Benayoun's large scale Virtual Reality Interactive Installation]]
[[File:COSMOPOLIS.jpg|thumb|250px|''Cosmopolis'' (2005), Maurice Benayoun's large scale Virtual Reality Interactive Installation]]
* Prix Ars Electronica Visionary Pioneer of Media Art (nomination), 2014
* [[Prix Ars Electronica]] Visionary Pioneer of Media Art (nomination), 2014
* SACD Award, Interactive Arts, Paris, June 2009
* SACD Award, Interactive Arts, Paris, June 2009
* Golden Nica (first prize), interactive art category, ARS ELECTRONICA Festival, [[Linz, Austria]], 1998
* Golden Nica (first prize), interactive art category, ARS ELECTRONICA Festival, [[Linz, Austria]], 1998
* Honorary Mention, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria, April 1995
* Jose Abel Prize, Best European animation film, Cinanima, Animation Film Festival of [[Espinho, Portugal]], October 1994
* Jose Abel Prize, Best European animation film, Cinanima, Animation Film Festival of [[Espinho, Portugal]], October 1994
* Distinction (2nd prize), Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria, June 1994
* Best Electronic Special Effects, International Monitor Awards, Los Angeles, 1993
* Best Electronic Special Effects, International Monitor Awards, Los Angeles, 1993
* Best Video Paint Design, International Monitor Award, Los Angeles 1993
* Best Video Paint Design, International Monitor Award, Los Angeles 1993
* First Prize Pixel INA, Opens Title category Imagina '93, Monte Carlo, February 1993
* First Prize Pixel INA, Opens Title category Imagina '93, Monte Carlo, February 1993
* First Prize, Third Dimension Award, SCAM, Paris, November 1991
* First Prize, Third Dimension Award, SCAM, Paris, November 1991
* 1st Prize, Artistic Animation category, [[Truevision]] competition, [[SIGGRAPH]], Las Vegas, 1991
* Honorary Mention, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria, September 1991
* 1st Prize, Artistic Animation category, [[Truevision]] competition, SIGGRAPH, Las Vegas, 1991

==Selected works==
[[File:Le Diable est-il courbe.jpg|thumb|right|220px|''Le Diable est-il courbe?'' (Is the devil curved?), 1995]]
* ''Big Questions'' : ''Is God Flat?'' (1994)
* ''Is the Devil Curved?'' (VR installation, 1995)
* ''The Tunnel under the Atlantic'' (VR installation, Montreal-Paris, 1995)
* ''World Skin, a photo safari in the Land of War'' (1997)-Golden Nica, Ars Electronica Festival 1998
* ''Crossing Talks, Communication Rafting'' (Virtual Reality Internet installation, 1999)
* ''Art Impact, collective Retinal Memory'' (interactive installation, 2000)
* ''Labylogue'' (televirtual interactive installation, 2000)
* ''So.So.So., Somebody, Somewhere, Some Time'' (interactive installation, 2002)
* ''Cosmopolis, Overwritting the City'' (interactive installation, 2005)
* ''Mechanics of Emotions'' (series of works, 2005- )
* ''NeORIZON'' (urban interactive installation, 2008)
* ''Still Moving'' (interactive sculpture, 2008)
* ''The Dump'' (blog, 2006-2008)
* ''Emotion Forecast'' (Internet, urban screens, 2010)
* ''White Cube, The spirit of Contemporary Art'' (perfume, 2011)
* ''Occupy Wall Screens'' (Urban screen, Internet real time video, 2012)
* ''E-SCAPE TODAY!'' (Urban screen, Internet, Seoul Square, Seoul, 2012)
* ''Emotion Winds'' (Urban screen, Internet, Media Fest, Mumbai, 2014)
* ''Borders Tunnel'' (VR, Internet, video, Osage Gallery, HK, 2016)
* ''Brain Factory Prototype'' (EEG, VR, 3D Printing, Art Center Nabi, Seoul, South Korea, 2016)
* ''Value of Values'' (EEG, VR, NFT, Blockchain, ISEA2019 Gwangju, South Korea, 2019)
* ''Power Cheess'' (Robotics, AI installation 2021)


==References==
==References==
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== Further reading ==
== Further reading ==
* Maurice Benayoun, ''The Dump, 207 Hypotheses for Committing Art'', bilingual (English/French) Fyp éditions, France, July 2011, {{ISBN|978-2-916571-64-5}}
* Timothy Murray, [[Derrick de Kerckhove]], [[Oliver Grau]], [[Kristine Stiles]], Jean-Baptiste Barrière, [[Dominique Moulon]], Jean-Pierre Balpe, ''Maurice Benayoun Open Art 1980 - 2010'', Nouvelles éditions Scala, 2011, French version, {{ISBN|978-2-35988-046-5}}
* Timothy Murray, [[Derrick de Kerckhove]], [[Oliver Grau]], [[Kristine Stiles]], Jean-Baptiste Barrière, [[Dominique Moulon]], Jean-Pierre Balpe, ''Maurice Benayoun Open Art 1980 - 2010'', Nouvelles éditions Scala, 2011, French version, {{ISBN|978-2-35988-046-5}}
* Maurice Benayoun, Josef Bares, ''Urban Media Art Paradox: Critical Fusion vs Urban Cosmetics'' in ''What Urban Media Art Can Do: Why, When, Where and How'', Susa Pop, Tanya Toft, editors, AVedition publisher, 2016, pp.&nbsp;81–89, 450–453, {{ISBN|978-3899862553}}
* Benayoun, M., ''The Nervous Breakdown of the Global Body, an Organic Model of the Connected World'', in Proceedings of Futur en Seine 2009, ed. Cap Digital, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-4466-7929-6}}.
* Sara and Tom Pendergast, ''Contemporary Artists'' St James Press, 2001, pp.&nbsp;155–158, {{ISBN|1-55862-407-4}}
* Sara and Tom Pendergast, ''Contemporary Artists'' St James Press, 2001, pp.&nbsp;155–158, {{ISBN|1-55862-407-4}}
* [[Peter Weibel]], [[Jeffrey Shaw]], ''Future Cinema'', MIT Press 2003, pp.&nbsp;472,572-581, {{ISBN|0-262-69286-4}}
* [[Peter Weibel]], [[Jeffrey Shaw]], ''Future Cinema'', MIT Press 2003, pp.&nbsp;472,572-581, {{ISBN|0-262-69286-4}}
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*[http://www.the-dump.net Official Blog/creation ''The Dump'']
*[http://www.the-dump.net Official Blog/creation ''The Dump'']


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[[Category:French male writers]]
[[Category:French male writers]]
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[[Category:University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis faculty]]
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Latest revision as of 02:50, 27 November 2024

Maurice Benayoun
Maurice Benayoun in 2000
Born
Maurice Benayoun

(1957-03-29) 29 March 1957 (age 67)
Mascara, French Algeria
EducationPantheon-Sorbonne University
Known forNew Media Art
Notable workQuarxs (1991)
Tunnel under the Atlantic (1995)
World Skin, a Photo Safari in the Land of War (1997)
AwardsGolden Nica
Ars Electronica 1998,
Chevalier des Arts et Lettres 2000,
Siggraph 1991,
Villa Medicis hors les murs, 1993,
Imagina, 1993,
International Monitor Awards...
Websitewww.benayoun.com

Maurice Benayoun (aka MoBen or 莫奔) (born 29 March 1957) is a French new-media artist, curator, and theorist based in Paris and Hong Kong.[1]

His work employs various media, including video, computer graphics, immersive virtual reality, the Internet, performance, EEG, 3D Printing, large-scale urban media art, robotics, NFTs, and Blockchain based artworks, installations and interactive exhibitions.

Early life

[edit]

He was born in Mascara, Algeria, in March 1957, as a war orphan. His father was killed before his birth in the Algerian independence war. He moved to France in 1958, following his mother and his brother, to live in popular suburbs in north Paris where the family stayed during most of his childhood.

Education

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Bennayoun's doctorate thesis at the Sorbonne, Artistic Intentions at Work, Hypothesis for Committing Art, was published in 2011.[2]

Career

[edit]
World Skin (1997), Maurice Benayoun's Virtual Reality Interactive Installation

Benayoun taught in contemporary and fine arts at Pantheon-Sorbonne University. In 1987 he co-founded Z-A Production (1987–2003), a computer graphics and virtual reality private lab.[citation needed]

Between 1990 and 1993, Benayoun collaborated with Belgian graphic novelists François Schuiten and philosopher Benoît Peeters on Quarxs, the first animation series made of HD computer graphics, exploring variant creatures with alternate physical laws.[3]

For his first solo show, Benayoun presented a virtual reality installation linking two art museums: the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal.[4] Benayoun conceived and directed the exhibition Cosmopolis, Overwriting the City (2005), an art and science immersive installation presented during the French Year in China in Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Chongqing. This was Maurice Benayoun's first experience in China, and the reception by the public played an important role in later Benayoun's move to Asia.[5]

Key concepts

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Open Media, in 2000, considered his works as a form of Open Media Art, paraphrasing Jon Ippolito, not limited to the traditional forms, media and economic schemes of art, but also not necessarily based on a specific medium, digital or using technologies. Open takes here the sense of freedom in the means of expression.[6]

Infra-realism – (Infra-realisme in French, could be interpreted as 'sub-realism') was coined in the early 90s to describe the specificity of the new form of realism emerging from 3D computer graphics. During the production of Quarxs (1989–1993), the author, Benayoun wanted to identify the difference between visual realism based on the transcription of how the world reflects light, and what he called Infra-realism, or "realism of the depth" or "the deep realism behind the surface".[7]

Selected awards

[edit]
Tunnel under the Atlantic (1995), Maurice Benayoun's Virtual Reality Installation
Cosmopolis (2005), Maurice Benayoun's large scale Virtual Reality Interactive Installation
  • Prix Ars Electronica Visionary Pioneer of Media Art (nomination), 2014
  • SACD Award, Interactive Arts, Paris, June 2009
  • Golden Nica (first prize), interactive art category, ARS ELECTRONICA Festival, Linz, Austria, 1998
  • Jose Abel Prize, Best European animation film, Cinanima, Animation Film Festival of Espinho, Portugal, October 1994
  • Best Electronic Special Effects, International Monitor Awards, Los Angeles, 1993
  • Best Video Paint Design, International Monitor Award, Los Angeles 1993
  • First Prize Pixel INA, Opens Title category Imagina '93, Monte Carlo, February 1993
  • First Prize, Third Dimension Award, SCAM, Paris, November 1991
  • 1st Prize, Artistic Animation category, Truevision competition, SIGGRAPH, Las Vegas, 1991

References

[edit]

Citations

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  1. ^ Paul Catanese, Director's Third Dimension: Fundamentals of 3d Programming in Director 8.5, Sams Publishing, 2001, p314. ISBN 0-672-32228-5
  2. ^ Maurice Benayoun, The Dump, 207 Hypotheses for Committing Art, bilingual (English/French) Fyp éditions, France, July 2011, ISBN 978-2-916571-64-5
  3. ^ Stephen Wilson, Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology, MIT Press, 2002, p705. ISBN 0-262-73158-4
  4. ^ Lars Qvortrupp, Virtual Space: Spatiality in Virtual Inhabited 3d Worlds, Springer, 2002, p222. ISBN 1-85233-516-5
  5. ^ "BENAYOUN, Maurice | School of Creative Media".
  6. ^ Timothy Murray, Derrick de Kerckhove, Oliver Grau, Kristine Stiles, Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Dominique Moulon, Jean-Pierre Balpe, Maurice Benayoun Open Art, Nouvelles éditions Scala, 2011, French version, ISBN 978-2-35988-046-5
  7. ^ Madsen, Kim H., Qvortrup, Lars. "Production Methods: Behind the Scenes of Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds." Springer Science & Business Media, 6 Dec. 2012 (1st edition 2002) - pp. 53-54. ISBN 1447100638, 9781447100638

General sources

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  • ADA, Archive of Digital Art, Missing Matter, [1]
  • FMX/09, Paris ACM SIGGRAPH, ZA Story, the Quarxs, God and the Devil,[2], 2009
  • Benayoun, M.,"A Nano-Leap for Mankind" in The Dump, 207 Hypotheses for Committing Art, bilingual (English/French) Fyp éditions, France, July 2011, pp. 349–351. ISBN 978-2-916571-64-5
  • Benayoun, M., [3], "Architecture reactive de la communication" (French), July 1998

Further reading

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[edit]
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