Yucef Merhi
Bio
Yucef Merhi was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He studied at Universidad Central de Venezuela, New School University, and holds a Master's in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University. Merhi has produced a variety of works that engage electronic circuits, computers, video game systems, touch screens, and other devices in the presentation of his written words. One example is Poetic Clock, a machine that converts time into poetry, generating 86,400 different poems daily. The resulting artworks expand the limitations of language and the traditional context of poetry.[citation needed] His 2012 commissioned work for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Quetzalcoatl 2.0.1.2., was a web-based work that "aims to reveal the voice of Quetzalcoatl in the technological reality of 2012 A.D."
Statement
I have been exploring the interconnections between language and technology, creating interactive environments, computer based works and digital applications, while proposing various ways to experience natural language and code. The comprehension of this duet led me to develop methods and machines in order to address social, political, and philosophical issues. Most of this content has been comprised in poetic constructions.
One of my firmest convictions is that poetry transforms objects into art in the same way that it converts noise into music. The physical object in my work is an extension of the poem, which expands the potential of words and extends the limits of language; while poetry becomes a prolongation of the object, providing an emotive and meaningful presence. The relation poem-object that I outline redefines the role of the poet and our experience of written poetry in our present.
Since poetry is subversive by nature, I have been doing projects and actions that show the vulnerability of governments, corporations, institutions and political figures, such as hacking into the email account of the late President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez; obtaining and reprogramming the source code of the first 3D computer game ever made; appropriating the user’s database of the largest telecommunication company in Venezuela; or getting and using the credit card of the old British Artist, Damien Hirst.
Dealing with these systems made me realize innovative ways for human and mechanical expression. In this sense, I refer to my work as new media, as it deals with our culture by considering contemporary issues and technologies, displaying the boundless possibilities between language and technology, as well as the inevitable fluxes of poetry.
Artworks
