Miltos Manetas Brings Net Art Collection to Siena's Museo d'Inverno

Miltos Manetas, a Greek-born Italian artist, presents his personal collection of net art at the Museo d'Inverno in Siena, running until June 26, 2016. The museum, founded in 2015 by artists Francesco Carone and Eugenia Vanni, is housed in a small historic building above the 14th-century Fontenuova fountain in the Contrada della Lupa. Manetas faced the challenge of exhibiting web-based artworks in a physical space, a problem that has troubled curators since Documenta 1997. His solution involves an installation that goes beyond simply placing a computer online. The collection, named ElectronicOrphanage, originated in 2001 in a former Chinese shop on Chung King Road in Los Angeles, used as a monitor for web art by the Neen movement, founded by Manetas in 2000. In Siena, the exhibition recreates that moment through objects, documents, and URLs printed on walls. A permanent addition to the museum is a virtual project room viewable only via augmented reality, inaugurated with a show by Swiss artist Nora Renaud. The exhibition opened in February with a show of James Lee Byars presented by Maurizio Nannucci.