Franca Formenti

Artist Statement

Keywords:

Bio-Doll's Mouse is an open space, created so that people may contact each other directly. The idea is to create a platform to confront each other on topics such as current affairs, the use of female technology, the eroticization of the mass media, the new prospects for expression offered on the net, to artistic creativity on the Internet. Everyone may enter the Bloki and ask the interviewee - who changes frequently - a question: this may be an important personality, a theorist, an artist, a politician or a business man, whoever decides to be a part of the project at that time. The immediacy of the publication of the questions and comments does not allow for any censorship. However, no racist, violent or sexist messages are allowed.

Description of Project: The bio doll's mouse project has come about through an interaction/virtual seduction between the Bio-Doll (a cloned doll to be used and consumed by the public, a kind of futuristic prostitute) and Derrick De Kerckhove. The Bloki, a virtual creature (blog + wiki) is then formed from this strange interaction. At first the people involved will be the Bio-Doll, Franca Formenti (myself) and Derrick de Kerckhove. During the next phase users will be able to take part and interact with Derrick de Kerckhove and various intellectuals, politicians and people who have a lot of media attention who will enter to deliver new information. Information about the other participants can be found in the credits section of the bloki.

Objectives: The aim of the project is to shed some light on the concept of seduction, of strong eroticism and maternity, evident in the initial phase in the interview between Derrick de Kerckhove and Franca Formenti (Derrick de Kerckhove and the Bio-Doll.) In the next phase emails containing mildly pornographic language are thus encoded. Restructuring the academic and often seemingly unreachable intellectual image will make it more accessible and user-friendly for the public who will then interact with him.

Project History: The idea for the project came about in 2004 while I was giving Derrick de Kerckhove information about my artistic work. Through a long tennis-match of emails there was a sliding of identity between the artist (Franca Formenti) and the object of my work (Bio-Doll) creating in principle a first psychological disorientation towards my interlocutor, because of, on the one hand, the Bio-Doll's strong seductive and erotic attitude, and on the other a more formal and professional attitude of the artist.

Statement of Reason: I think that even if we are trying to create a society on the net, there are certain dynamics that will never change, for instance the concept of seduction, of courtship and eroticism, even very hot and fervent eroticism. This human behavior has the goal of creating a new form of life that will be rooted in the female psyche because of the law of one's own genetic transmission and the survival of the species. The father figure will always have the aspiration to mould its offspring through a maternal detachment.

Franca Formenti Bio

I was born in Italy in 1963. After having graduated from high school I studied at a fashion and design school in Milan. I did not go on to work in the fashion world but I started to work in the fabric art field and surface design research, searching for the transformation of textiles through chemical and natural means. I began to exhibit my textile work in various parts of the world and I was increasingly interested in art and new forms of artistic expression that deal with themes which involve the body and cloning and maternity. In 2001 I created a kind of Bio-Child of the future, conceived with a kit to measure, and later created the Bio-Doll. The Bio-Doll is a kind of prostitute of the future created in order to bring men back to sensations of eroticism and sexual instinct. During the years the Bio-Doll has been transformed and has learned to use and manipulate technology in order to seduce her interlocutors in evermore diverse and unpredictable ways.