P.A.C.E. code

SMAK / Ghent, 2010

Mark1

4 flags, print
225 x 150 cm

At the end of March 2010, the artists Simona Denicolai and Ivo Provoost invited Alec De Busschère to make a proposal for their PACE edition on the occasion of the presentation of the work during the "Electrified/Hacking public space" exhibition at S.M.A.K in Ghent.

Pace 2014-2028 (2009) consists of an edition of 15 different prints in which the universally recognised P A C E logo is represented in a colour gradation. 

Pace's image is a vector drawing and can be translated into text. Thus, each part of the image corresponds to coordinates of numbers and letters, according to the SVG code, in which Denicolai & Provoost have hidden the certificate of authenticity of the piece. The image, consisting of the word "PACE" crumpled up like a flag hanging down, and the fold line, is given by the artists under a copyleft licence. It can therefore be freely copied, modified and distributed on the net, as long as the history of the authors is mentioned. The collector or the institution that buys one or more copies of this edition thus receives at the same time the certificate and the possibility to make the image free. Artists thus include in the same object the classic, protectionist functioning of the art market and a positive piracy of this functioning via copyleft.

With P.A.C.E. code, Alec De Busschère "cracks" the vector codes of Denicolai & Provoost on four flags, one per letter of the word PACE, which are placed in the city of Ghent, in the Baudelo Park, according to the 4 cardinal points. These flags thus function as a plastic translation of the concept of the exhibition: "Hacking the public space".

Mark2