After starting out in the world of the Arts, I have been working with Art & Computers since 1993. In 1997, I became a Net.Artist. I have never regretted that move. The “Net Art” category is being simultaneously conceived and built by many artists from several terrestrial coordinates. Although globalization and exclusion are completely interlinked terms, I still believe that one of the good qualities of the former is the fact that it permits the exchange of artistic experiences in the national and international spheres. That delights me! All of my work is focused in that direction.

My interest is clearly expressed in the Museum of the Essential and Beyond That (https://archive.the-next.eliterature.org/museum-of-the-essential), my best-known work. The museum has no institutional links and receives no financial aid or sponsorship of any kind. It is developed on a home computer in the city of Rio de Janeiro, but it has a dynamic digital model, in a permanent state of “coming into being” and, for that very reason, receives contributions from different latitudes and longitudes of this geography without borders created by information technology. In addition to being its curator, I am also an artist – the museum encompasses all of my own work, including the Library of Marvels, my collection of “artist books” on the web.

These books are electronic narratives that use several kinds of media and processes: image, sound, words, movement, games, simulation, programming, and interactivity or the simulation thereof (https://archive.the-next.eliterature.org/museum-of-the-essential/library.htm). In addition to examining the cultural impact and possibilities created by computers as machines that can produce books and libraries, the Library of Marvels, in a way, is also part of the same positive quality of globalization because it seeks to disseminate the writings of important authors from all continents.

Today, this may be because:

“The image-world is the surface of globalization…. The task is not to get behind the image surface but to stretch it, enrich it, give it definition, give it time. A new culture opens here upon the line.” (Susan Buck-Morss, “Visual Studies and Global Imagination”)

Perhaps because I have returned to my roots somewhat, I have being devoting myself to “giant paintings” (pixels on screen) such as the Milky Way (https://archive.the-next.eliterature.org/museum-of-the-essential/via_lactea), which began as reflections on pain, beauty and a photograph that personified the Beslan tragedy (2004). In this ”painting” I touch on another focus of my early studies: the female gender. The Milky Way is like a mosaic. Different images with a strong impact, screen sirens, ordinary women, women who have been victims of violence and women from the third world, side by side, all have a right to their 15 seconds of fame – “Star Time.” The aim is not to compare them; what matters is the “Whole.” The role of women, ensuring the survival of the species with their milk in this Milky Way.

I am fascinated by the thought that with my work as a (Brazilian!) woman I am doing something to light up this Milky Way. It’s good to be alive TODAY! And to participate actively and creatively in this great web of information.

Citation
It is my pleasure to recommend Regina Célia Pinto for the Leonardo Global Crossings Prize. Pinto is Brazilian artist whose work focuses on web-based and CD-ROM art. Pinto’s utilization of technology is permeated with a poetic and playful sensibility, which has the effects of both challenging and delighting the user. Global awareness and desire to make connections characterize most of her work.

Pinto’s most extensive project is The Museum of the Essential, and Beyond That, previously the on-line publication Arte on Line <https://archive.the-next.eliterature.org/museum-of-the-essential/> which she initiated and ran from a home computer. The ability to cross borders has always been important to Pinto both practically and metaphorically. This virtual museum exhibits the work of international artists with special emphasis on South American digital art. The plan of the building attests to the global ambitions of the project. It includes areas dedicated to topics such as Cartographies of Globalization, Cloning and the Web, Esthetic of Tragedy, Borders of net.art and Web Art Today, The Concept of Borders Today, Electronic Poetry, Electronic Artist’s Books, Anthropological and Sociological [issues], a video room and a game room.

Pinto’s own art work, consisting of multiple interactive books and game books is featured in various parts of the web site, especially in the room labeled “Library of Marvels”. I specially recommend The Book of Sand, a game book designed to encourage the participant to reflect on the relation of aesthetics, ethics, and global events. The game consists of a virtual set of dominos that allows the user to reconstruct the Twin Towers. Each piece of the game is linked to images and texts. The visitor is instructed think of ethics and aesthetics while playing the game.

While several internationally-renowned Latin American artists use sophisticated technologies, much of the digital art work (specially web art) emulates earlier static, two dimensional media, such as painting, drawing, and photography. Pinto models her works on books, yet she allows the viewer to create individual pathways and to experience the works in unique, non-linear ways. The inclusion of games within the books greatly contributes to this effect. Pinto’s work invokes the joint powers of art and technology to seduce, to entertain, to connect, to challenge, to inspire and to destroy. Hardly more could be expected of an artist. She deserves your consideration for this award.

She earned a teaching certificate in Drawing and Art at the Escola de Belas Artes of the Universidade Federal in Rio de Janeiro, 1974 - 1977. She has a Master's degree in Art History, specializing in the Anthropology of Art / EBA, UFRJ, 1994. Her Master's thesis is titled: "Four views in search of a reader, important women, art and identity," 1994, EBA, UFRJ.

She has written a variety of academic works, including published scientific essays. As a visual artist, she has participated in several exhibitions and curated several.