[MONSCII]
“My generation grew up with the fax, computers, arcades, consoles, cassettes, walkman, VHS, 35 mm cameras and Polaroids. But we were not spoiled by technology; technology was our playroom.” These are the words of Raquel Meyers, the author of this work that takes its title from a pun on monster and PETSCII (the name of the computer language used to create the images). The PETSCII code is a variation of ASCII, which was used in old 8-bit Commodore computers, the consumer electronics company ousted from the top of the market by IBM and Microsoft.
With this obsolete technology, Meyers has composed a polyptych that evokes both medieval multi-panel paintings, antecedents of multi-screens, and the universe of Donkey Kong or Game Boy, the famous little machine with which Nintendo burst onto the global gaming market –and the schoolyards of half the world– in 1985. Between digital craftsmanship and the aesthetics of embroidery, Meyers vindicates the use of outdated technologies or those that are considered minor, as a tactic for appropriating a cultural history that is written, increasingly, by technical innovations.
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Born in Cartagena in 1977, Raquel Meyers works with obsolete technologies such as teletext, typewriters, fax machines, and the Commodore 64, blended with photography, animation or embroidery. She defines her practice as expanded typing (KYBDslöjd), which could be defined as ‘manual dexterity with a keyboard,’ materializing text characters and keystrokes beyond the screen, thus questioning our parasitic relationship with technology. Since 2004, her work has been exhibited in art centers, galleries, and festivals such as Ars Electronica, Transmediale, Xpo Gallery, La Casa Encendida, Liste Art Fair Basel, P21 Seoul, Maison des Auteurs Angoulême, BmoCA, SeMA NANJI, La Gaîté Lyrique, Tokyo Blip Festival, Square Sounds Melbourne, BilbaoArte, LABoral, Denver Digerati, iMAL, Piksel, Shibuya Pixel Art, LEV, MFRU, HeK, ETOPIA, or Eufònic Urbà, among others. Among the awards she has received are the 2nd prize World on Fire from the Supernova Digital Animation Festival in Denver, the Excellence Award from the Shibuya Pixel Art Contest in Tokyo, the Audience Award from the Orf Teletext trifft Kunst, among others.
