Territoire du corps

2002 Meat the network body or the exploded body

For the Fête de l'Internet in March 2002, Fred Forest set up a site where his body was offered for sale, piece by piece, starting with the head. Internet users can pay remotely by credit card. With this new critical action on the Internet, Fred Forest ventures into the field and perspective of the post-biological body. The territory of the body is superimposed on the notion of network territory, ultimately merging with it. On the image of his body, dotted lines indicate the various parts of his body that can be purchased... so to speak, by the slice! Handwritten information completes the picture on certain sales conditions, inviting the surfer to help himself, or referring him via hypertext to the concept and a few detailed images.

As everyone knows, except the ignorant who don't want to know anything about it, my artistic practice since the 70s, starting with the artistic M2, has developed continuously on the notion of territory with that of the territory of networks, at the same time as that today of the territory of the body (Galerie Nouvion, Monaco, 1996) notably with the exchange of feet and their storage in a bank under a tax haven in the sun... Once my body has been auctioned off, so to speak, all that's left for me to negotiate on the Internet is my soul. But I'd like to keep this intangible asset for myself, so that I can monetize my entry into paradise without having to show my credit card, which I've forgotten in my bedside table.

It was logical, in line with my artistic practice, that I should one day become interested in the commodification of the body (a practice as old as time itself), but beyond this issue, it became clear to me that with the abolition of space, the body under the ever-growing influence of technology, and the transition from biological to digital memory, we are directly challenged as to the future of our bodies, our identities and our cycles of existence. In the initial text I wrote at the time of its creation, I claimed that its lifespan was linked to my own existence, but fortunately I was wrong in asserting this. As of today, Monday December 14, 2020, the site has disappeared and I still exist until proven otherwise ;-)

The site was up and running until 2016, when it disappeared after Blast Machine, the company responsible for its creation, failed to pay the hosting fees. An extension to the site was planned by the artist, in the form of a real-time electrocardiogram, starting with the sound of the artist's heart, permanently broadcast on the site...

• Philippe Dupuis : « Fred Forest chair à web », in Nice-Matin 22 mars 2002, N° 19127
• L’interview du mois Fred Forest in Gazette d l’’Hôtel Drouot N° 27 (supplément 18) 5 juillet 2002 pp.10-13
• « Fred Forest : « Dans toute forme d’art qui présente un intérêt, il y a une forme de résistance et d’insoumission », In Flux News, Liège, septembre/octobre/novembre 2002, N° 29, Belgique, pp 24-25
• Le Monde Interactif en ligne, 22 mars 2002, Fête de l'Internet, Viande
• Nice Matin, N° 19727, Vendredi 22 mars 2002, "Fred Forest chair à web" par Philippe Dupuis. Dernière de couverture + photo
• Supplément n°18 à la Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot n° 27 Du 5 juillet 2002 " L'interview du mois Fred Forest (4 pages p.10-11-12-13 + 6 photos)
• Flux News n° 29, Trimestriel d'actualité d'art contemporain : Sept, oct, nov 2002, N°29, Belgique, P24/25 " Fred Forest : Dans toute forme d'art qui présente un intérêt, il y a une forme de résistance et d'insoumission"
• Cassandre, N°50 nov/dec 2002 ; Entretiens avec Fred Forest, Propos recueillis par Valérie Saint Do

• http://viande.fredforest.net/