Michael Marcovici
| Michael Marcovici | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Michael Marcovici September 27, 1969 Vienna, Austria |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Education | Autodidact |
| Known for | contemporary art, digital art, conceptual art |
Michael Marcovici (born 27 September 1969) is an Austrian software developer, patent holder, sculptor, painter, conceptual artist and designer of furniture. His works make statements regarding politics, science and technology, social topics and style. His artistic output includes media works of ironic content, lithe furniture designs, and abstract hi-tech sculptures. His formative years were spent as a financial analyst and outdoor sportsman. Marcovici turned to art in 1995 as the publisher of two art magazines: werk-zeug and streetfashion. Most of his art dates from 2005 to 2009.
Biography
Marcovici was born in 1969 in Vienna, he became interested in technology, especially electronics and mathematics, at the age of seven. By 12, he had worked as a programmer, and quit school at 17. He then started his first business in the financial field, publishing analysis on the financial markets [1] a stock newsletter published by the artist and managing funds, until he sold his business at the age of 23. Marcovici spent the next three years climbing and hiking in Africa, USA, Asia, and all over Europe.
From 1995 on he was the publisher of werk-zeug, a technology and art magazine, as well as streetfashion, a magazine featuring fashionable people on the streets of the world. He was also active as a software developer and inventor. Marcovici holds international patents for climbing equipment, bicycle gears, trading systems and electronic payment systems Page text.[2]
In 2001, he started a business on eBay that eventually became the world's largest power-selling enterprise on eBay, a company with 80 employees and a turnover of 20 million euros a year. In early 2005, the company went bankrupt.[3] He wrote a book, The End of EBay in 2008,[4] about the company and its demise.
Michael Marcovici is also the co-founder and joint director of the Domain Developers Fund, a Cayman Island domiciled investment vehicle investing in domain names. He lives and works in Vienna.
Works
His work addresses a variety of fields such as technology, politics, science, social topics,finance, religion and style. In 2009 he created "One Billion Dollar", a sculpture made of 10 Million USD Notes. The Artwork itself is conceptual but Marcovici has built a model that has been exhibited many times.[5] Rattraders is another famous work, the artist has trained rats to trade in the financial markets, the work has received international attention in mainstream media[6][7][8] in the mids of the 2008 financial crisis. Another important work is Free Tibet, a 15 foot long sign made from special steel with the words "Free Tibet" the sign was produced entirely in China, the aim of the work was to show the unreflected industrial production process on one side and the need for global resources in controversy: "No anti globalisation movement without airplanes, no anti Google movement without Google".[9] Other works to mention are: Democratic Chess.[10][11] Rolex Time Sand.[12] Unix a concept of an underground robotic transportation system.[13][14]
Exhibitions
- 2010 Burn at greenbench.[15]
- 2009 At Ofroom.[16]
- 2009 Speed Show.[17]
References
- ↑ Austria Boersebrief
- ↑ WIPO patent, patent for payment system.
- ↑ heise online, about the qentis bankruptcy.
- ↑ Amazon, book on qentis.
- ↑ One Billion Dollar, on infosthetics.com.
- ↑ Rattraders, article in the Financial Times.
- ↑ Rattraders, article in 'The Guardian'.
- ↑ rattraders, article in metro.
- ↑ Free Tibet, on newcurrator.
- ↑ Democratic Chess, on boibboing.net.
- ↑ Democratic Chess, review on kottke.org.
- ↑ Rolex Time Sand, article in gizmodo.
- ↑ unitx robot, review in boiboing.net.
- ↑ unitx robot, review in core77.
- ↑ , website of Greenbench.
- ↑ Solo exhibition, in Austrian State TV ORF.
- ↑ Speed Show, by Aram Bartholl.