Alexandro Ladaga (Italy), PhD in Aesthetics, and Silvia Manteiga (Spain) PhD in Cultural Studies, established the ELASTIC Group of Artistic Research in 1999 in Rome. ELASTIC Group of Artistic Research has presented works in international exhibits and festivals. Their work is characterized by strong conceptual aspects that evolve from a deep analysis of the world around them. The artists have developed critical interpretations in relation to modernity and to its multiple aspects thanks to their strong sensitivity in relation to technology and its evolution.
Rooted in the practice of the duo is Duchamp’s statement: “Art is made by the public”. So one can see in their work an extreme attention towards the reciprocity of the rapport between the artistic product and the spectator. The viewer often becomes thoroughly involved in an interactive relationship in which the video installation transforms the spectator into an integral part of the work of art.
The ELASTIC Group as artists and theorists were invited by Antonino Saggio, the director of the book series “The IT Revolution in Architecture” to write a book on the rapport between public art and new technologies. Moving Layers: Contextual Video & Architecture (Edilstampa, Rome, 2006), published even in the English version in 2014, analyzes the application of advanced technologies of new media in video-surfaces in architecture and in public spaces, with an acute attention paid to the site context and to the public. In 2015 their book 127kBdiarte, pensare l'arte in rete: (Psiche e Aurora Editore) was published.
In the last 20 years, the ELASTIC Group of Artistic Research was invited to realize many Public Video Art works in response to contemporary architecture, monuments or historical sites of both national and international importance.
In 2009-2010 they were selected to represent Italy in the New Media Biennial: at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rijeka, curated by Christiane Paul of the Whitney Museum in New York City and Elena Giulia Rossi, curator of New Media at the MAXXI, Museum of Art of the XXI century, Rome. Recently they have realized Public Art Projects for ArteFiera Bologna and Milan Week Design, Isola di San Giorgio, La Biennale di Venezia and Riga, Capital of European Culture.
Lately, their research has elastically expanded from the ephemeral world of video to the world of the matter.
Solo Exhibitions and Public Art (selection): ELASTIC Videology 1999/2019, Pratt Institute, New York, 2019; 30 anni dalla nascita di Internet, Internet Festival di Pisa, Pisa, 2016; Hyperconnectivity, E.G.A.R. LAB, Rome, 2016; Codec Lossy, City as Context, Urban Screen, Riga, 2014; Video Dreams, E.G.A.R. LAB, Rome, 2013; Elastic Space of Energy Relations, Spazio 6Centro, Milan, 2012; A.L.I.C.E.'S EYE, Public Video Art, Chiostro di Palazzo Bevilacqua Ariosti, Bologna, 2012; SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, 2011; The Networked Possibilities of Media Facades, Collegium Hungaricum, Berlin / Ars Electronica, Linz / iMAL, Brussels / Medialab-Prado, Madrid / M-cult, Helsinki / Palace of Arts, Budapest, 2010; Urban screen, Federal Square, Melbourne, 2008; The Night Watchmen, Public Video Art, Tempietto del Bramante, Reale Accademia di Spagna, Rome, 2006; Video portraits, Ierimonti Gallery, Milan, 2006; Infrared, Spazio Velan Centro d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, 2006; Mapping the City, MLAC, Rome, 2005; Corpo Elettronico, Galleria Giovanni Pintori, Bologna, 2005; Istanbul Web Biennial 05, Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul, 2005; Subliminal Wien, WUK Kulturzentrum, Vienna, 2005; One man show, Artiscope Gallery, Brussels, 2005; The Mystical Vision, Galleria Paolo Erbetta, Foggia, 2004; Video Solo, video performance & installation, BalleTeatro Center for Performing Arts, Oporto, 2003; Metaphysical Supplement, prodotto da TNSJ /Ministério da Cultura de Portugal, Oporto, 2003; A circular sight, The Spanish Institute, New York, 2002; Videoformes, Public Video Art, Musée du Ranquet, Clermont-Ferrand, 2002; Mine Man, public art, Piazza del Popolo, Rome, 2001; Eye /I recorder zap simulacra, public art, Piazzale delle Cascine, Florence, 2001; A portrait of the artist as states of mind, Spazio Espositivo di Santa Verdiana, Florence University, 2001; Beyond Lines, Spazio Espositivo Campo Boario, Rome, 2001.
Group Exhibitions (selection): MAC in transito, Museo de Arte Contemporánea, Valdivia (Chile), 2020; Liberation Day, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Rome, 2020; Copenhagen Architecture Festival, Copenhagen, 2020; Viaggio in camera, Fondazione Trussardi, Milan, 2020; L'Art au Temps du coronavirus, API, Geneva, 2020; The infinite window, “Through the window”, Exit Photomag, Madrid; Market Value, Mercatus Liber VVM19, Hamilton House of Contemporary Art, Bristol, 2019; Tate Exchange Liverpool, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, 2018; The artist within-Branching out, VVM, Biennale di Venezia, 2017; Festival Atonale, Amburgo, 2016; Venice Vending Machine, Giardini della Biennale di Venezia, 2016; Afterpiece, INSA Art Space, Seoul, 2015; Street Art Stories: The Web's Public Sphere, RAI Museo della Radio e la Televisione, Turin, 2014; LA BANDIERA DEI DUE MONDI, 55th Biennale di Venezia, Isola di San Giorgio, Venice, 2013; TIME IS LOVE.6, TEA Centro de Arte Contemporanea, Tenerife / Mori + Stein Gallery, London / Sazmanab, Teheran / Savvy Contemporary, Berlin / Kulter Gallery, Amsterdam, 2013; Elastic Space of Energy Relations, Cattedrale della Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan, 2012; TIME IS LOVE.5, ZET Foundation, Amsterdam / TIWANI Contemporary, London / [.Box] Video Art Project Space, Milan / Expressive Arts Institute, San Diego / Rich Mix Foundation, London / The Cornaro Institute, Larnaca (Cyprus) / Galerie Octobre, Paris / City Art Gallery, Kharkiv (Ukraina), 2012; Premio Celeste, Museo di Archeologia, Bologna, 2011; The Climate of Change, FACT, Liverpool, 2009; Looking for Equilibrium: Vito Acconci, Dennis Oppenheim, Grimonprez, Elastic Group, Ierimonti Gallery, Milan, 2009; Art in Open City, Palazzo dei Congressi, EUR, Rome, 2008; DIVA Digital Video Art Fair, New York, 2007; IX Bienal de La Habana, Dinámicas de la Cultura Urbana, La Habana, 2006; Il Video Italiano dagli anni ’70 ad oggi, Accademia di Belle Arti di Pechino / Museo Arte Contemporanea di Cantone (China), 2006; Space and Empty, La Biennale di Architettura, Venice, 2006; Le Tribù della Memoria, Galleria Nazionale di Arte Moderna, Rome, 2005; InvisibleNetwork, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2004; Euroscreen, DeLeon White Gallery, Toronto, 2004; VIDEOTHEKA, WUK Kulturzentrum, Vienna, 2004; QUI. New release, GAMEC di Bergamo, 2004; Video in public spaces, Contemporary Art National Center, Ekaterinburg, Russia, 2004; VI Salon Internacional de Arte Digital, Museo de Bellas Artes, La Habana, 2004; Espacios a la experimentación: Muestra audiovisual internacional, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, San Juan (Costa Rica), 2004; The Mobile Archive of Wonders, Vancouver, 2004; On Air: video in onda dall’Italia, Kunst Meran, Merano / MACRO, Rome / Centro d'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, 2004; XIV Quadriennale di Roma, Anteprima Napoli, Palazzo Reale, Naples, 2003; Four suitcases for a balancing act, Teatro Auditorio Gil Vicente, Coimbra Capital Nacional da Cultura / Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon / Teatro Carlos Alberto, Oporto, 2003; Cronostorie, Galeria Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile, 2003; Right on for the darkness, Maus Habitos, Oporto, 2003; Filma obscura, 6th Rencontres Internationales Paris-Berlin, Cinéma l'Arlequin, Paris, 2003; Festival Temps d’Images, La Biennale di Venezia, Italian Pavilion, 2002; Eternal shadows, Public Art, The Kitchen Art Gallery, New York, 2002; Best Before End, Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa, Venice, 2001; Elettroshock: 30 anni di video in Italia, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 2001; Observatori, MUVIM Museo di Arte Moderna, Valencia, 2001.