Joseph Nechvatal
Paris // France

Viral Venture (2009) is a digital art animation by the artist Joseph Nechvatal with a musical score by the composer Rhys Chatham. As programmed for Joseph Nechvatal by Stephane Sikora in C++ (modeled on the biological viral mode) Viral Venture captures cycles of the birth, growth and death of real time artificial life activity within art images created by Joseph Nechvatal based on small details of the human body.

Joseph Nechvatal is an American post-conceptual artist who creates virus-modeled artificial life computer-assisted paintings, digital animations and audio art. He also writes poetry, art theory and art criticism. Themes he has addressed in his work include the apocalyptic, communication excess, the virus, and gender fluidity. In 1999, he earned his Ph.D. in the philosophy of aesthetics and new technology and soon wrote two art theory books: Towards an Immersive Intelligence and Immersion Into Noise.

Read the artist’s catalog essay here.