MCA ANNOUNCES INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL AND INTERNET EXHIBITION
GUEST-CURATED BY JOSHUA DECTER

www.mcachicago.org/transmute

PUBLIC INVITED TO BECOME VIRTUAL CURATORS AND VIRTUAL ARTISTS

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, has invited independent
curator Joshua Decter to create a multimedia project that utilizes the
MCA's Collection from August 21 through November 7, 1999. Transmute is a
two-part interactive exhibition that allows the public to become both a
virtual curator and a virtual artist. This is the MCA's first
interactive exhibition employing both the MCA web page and on-site
computer kiosks.

Decter has selected works by artists from the Collection such as John
Baldessari, Matthew Barney, Chris Burden, Jeanne Dunning, General Idea,
Gilbert & George, Mona Hatoum, Gary Hill, Jim Isermann, Mike Kelley,
Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger, Charles Long (with Stereolab), Rene
Magritte, Bruce Nauman, Tony Oursler, Jorge Pardo, Jack Pierson, Richard
Prince, Mel Ramos, Allen Ruppersberg, Jim Shaw, Cindy Sherman, and Lorna
Simpson. These works will be installed in the fourth floor Dittmer,
Pritzker-Robin, Holleb, Anixter, and Goldenberg Collection galleries.

Decter's curatorial statement for Transmute is now available on the MCA
website at www.mcachicago.org/transmute. Modified versions of both the
interactive virtual curator and virtual artist components of Transmute
will be launched on the MCA website by late summer 1999.

Decter has also invited non-collection artists Liam Gillick, John
Miller, LOT/EK, Noritoshi Hirakawa, Grennan and Sperandio, Miltos
Manetas, Julia Scher, Fariba Hajamadi, Sam Samore, Mans Wrange and
Gerwald Rockenschaub to participate in the virtual components of
Transmute, and their contributions will be located within the on-site
museum interactive tour, and on the MCA website.

In the virtual curator component of the exhibition, Decter invites the
public to reinvent the exhibition by using on-site computer kiosks
located within the actual exhibition space at the MCA; these kiosks will
provide a 3-D simulation of the gallery and the artworks. Participants
can select specific works of art, navigate these works to various parts
of the virtual museum space, and reassemble their own virtual version of
the approximately 40 work exhibition. Changes in the location of
artworks will trigger visual transformations in the virtual exhibition
space itself.

In the virtual artist component of the exhibition, the public will have
an opportunity to virtually re-create one of the exhibition's central
artworks: John Baldessari's "Fish and Ram," a work from the MCA
Collection. The MCA and Decter have invited the public to respond
directly to Fish and Ram by submitting a two-dimensional original image,
which will be digitized and incorporated into the interactive program
that will be available for visitors to the museum's in-gallery computer
kiosks, as well as via the MCA website. 30,000 invite cards have already
been distributed throughout the city of Chicago, and elsewhere. When
visitors enter the virtual artist segment, they will see a reproduction
and an outline of Baldessari's work. They can then review the submitted
images and select any image to insert into the six parts of Baldessari's
grid, thereby reinventing Baldessari's artwork. For more information on
submitting images to the virtual artist component of Transmute, please
call the Museum at 312-280-2660, or visit the MCA website.