The Pirate Cinema - Nicolas Maigret

The Pirate Cinema is a live streaming of file sharing activities on networks using the BitTorrent protocol. In this project Nicolas Maigret depicts the restless hidden activity of file sharing online while giving shape to a visual representation of the peer-to-peer systems. The sharing activity of audio-visual materials is monitored in real time and trasformed into a streming video that visually represent the way files are sent among users: every file is splitted into several small samples transferred randomly and re-assembled following the correct order only once the file reach the final user. The Pirate Cinema shows the precise moment in which the files are still in the process of being transferred, still disordered and completely mixed up, giving birth to an hectic and glitchy streaming video. Bit nework users are thus transformed into unaware performers contributing to an endless audio-visual composition. On the occasion of the show at Link Cabinet the artist will unique a version of the project that will be streamed live during the whole exhibition period.
The online version of the project has been originally commissioned by: Abandon Normal Devices (UK), Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art (SLO), Kunsthal Aarhus (DK) in the framework of Masters & Servers.

Nicolas Maigret exposes the internal workings of media, through an exploration of their dysfunctions, limitations or failure thresholds which he develops as sensory and immersive audio visual experiences. As a curator, he initiated the disnovation.net research, a critique of the innovation propaganda. Nicolas teaches at Parsons Paris and cofounded the Art of Failure collective in 2006. His work has been presented in international exhibitions and festivals: Transmediale (Berlin), File (Sao Paulo), Museum of Art and Design (New York), 30th Chaos Communication Congress (Hamburg), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Gli.tc/h (Birmingham).