Carlo Zanni: me_BIG.jpg

Zanni's work 'LOCALHOST' is part of artist's long-term interest in public, interactive, site-specific art and its variations were introduced to public in different places and situations.The work shows a standardized 404 Internet error message stating that an image named “me_BIG.jpg” is not found within a path of several directories. Some of these directories are left blank for visitors to fill, others describe values the artist „personally believes in but which sometimes are hard to live by“, especially in nowadays society. Keeping in mind that values vary from place to place and from person to person, the piece works like a graffiti in progress and invites the viewers to participate and interact. In the Contain[era] version of the piece all thedirectories are left blank and the people can freely interpret the project and interact with it. 

How do you understand the term " post-internet " age, do you feel you live in one? How does it affect you?
Post-Internet is doping to cheat the unsophisticated mind. Even because we are still Internet age - or not? :) We also got internet 2.0 to specify a first internet and a second more complex phase (the social layer ).

What about your roots, your heritage? Do you feel "Italian" in your work?
I don't feel Italian neither in my life. Roots are in Egon Schiele.

Your work is often placed within and works with public place. How do you feel about containers in the role of galleries in the city parks and squares?
I don't like shipping containers when used as shipping containers, above all when they pile up on docks but it's genius when they are used as travelling galleries, the way Contain[ERA] uses them.

Your installation is touching on the theme of values in our society. Which values you think are the most important, but are missing / being marginalized in our times?
It touches the theme of personal values, the not found image at the end of the url is called me_BIG.jpg, so it's a way to question ourselves more than the society at large. Of course the personal continuously blends into the society and vice versa. 
I would pick "Honesty", for our society, and "Professionalism" for the Arts.

What is the most interesting aspect of the Contain[era] project for you? Why did you decide to be involved in it? What does it give you, from the artistic point of view?
The idea of the tour above all. Few days, many cities. Passion. This is the model of the future.

More info about Contain[era] to be found on the project's Facebook page or on the official website. Stay tuned for profiles of other artists from the exhibition circle.