Paul Thorel Prize - 3rd edition. The imperfections

Curated by Sara Dolfi Agostini, the exhibition at the MACRO museum presents to the public the winners of the third edition of the Paul Thorel Prize: Caterina De Nicola, Irene Fenara and Lorenza Longhi, three artists born in the early 1990s. With different approaches, the projects they have developed reflect on the relationships between technology, image and contemporary systems, seeking a human and deliberately imperfect dimension in a society overstimulated by the digital.

The prize is a platform dedicated to the Italian and international art scene, with a focus on digital arts and contemporary imagery. Each year, the Paul Thorel Foundation (headquartered in Naples, in the studio of the Italian-French artist Paul Thorel, a pioneer of electronic imagery and digital photography), together with a committee of experts, curators and museum directors, selects twelve artists. The jury then chooses three winners, and the Foundation produces and presents the commissioned works in collaboration with a museum institution.

The exhibition unfolds as a journey from outer space to the underground, both visual and mental, countering the homogenizing logic of machines.  For Caterina De Nicola, Irene Fenara and Lorenza Longhi, the digital realm is not a choice but a pervasive and limiting condition that amplifies reality whilst simultaneously trapping individual freedom within corporate protocols and blurring the lines between public and private space. Error and fragility are an antidote to the predictable perfection of algorithms, to the computation that permeates every aspect of human life.