PRESS RELEASE

MIAMI ARTIST USES NEW ART FORM TO TAP CREATIVITY

Internet blurs line between creator and consumer

CONTACT: XAVIER CORTADA (305) 858-1323

Miami artist Xavier Cortada launched his new WebStudio project which uses the Internet to invite websurfers to help him create collaborative art. WebStudio was launched on Tuesday, April 6, 1999, and will continue through July. Participants are invited to the Internet-based collaborative art project located at the artist’s website http://www.cortada.com, and interact with him through two webcams, E-mail, and a live chatroom.

Cortada has created collaborative murals on four continents, including the theme mural for the 12^th Annual United Nations Conference on AIDS held in Geneva last year. One of his favorite techniques is to have people draw, paint, or write messages on slips of paper that he then incorporates into a larger piece that he designs and paints. “This method allows many individuals to contribute to the piece and experience the creative process,” Cortada says. “With WebStudio, people from all over the world can participate without ever having to leave their homes — they can come together in a cyber-community to create a collaborative piece.”

Participants can log on during scheduled sessions (to take place three times a week) to help create the art pieces. Over the next four months the WebStudio will be exploring four topics– How we relate to: our partners/Love (April), to one another in our Society (May), to our God (June) and to our World and its environment (July).

This week, he’ll also be on-line in the WebStudio on Thursday, April 8 between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. and on Friday, April 9^th between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time). The transcripts of Tuesday morning’s live chatroom along with two dozen images of the two hour session are available by accessing the website, http://www.cortada.com.

More information on this project is available at http://www.cortada.com.

There is no fee to participate.

The WebStudio is presented with the support of a New Forms Miami grant Cortada received from Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council and ArtCenter South Florida.