Eternal City 2002

Curator: What strikes you first about Mark Kostabi's "Eternal City," created in 2002? To me, it’s got a hyperreal yet strangely detached feeling. Editor: It feels like a dream, almost unsettlingly serene. Those figures... mannequins draped in classical garb amidst this powerful architectural fragment. Is it the Temple of Zeus? It certainly suggests grand narratives being enacted. Curator: Precisely, though somewhat ambiguous narratives! Kostabi’s known for these faceless figures that seem to float through theatrical landscapes. The "Eternal City" title gives it a certain weight. What does it suggest to you about permanence versus the present? Editor: I think it explores the tension between history as a lived experience and history as something performed or re-enacted. Look at that temple – a ruin, but standing nonetheless. Those faceless figures are trapped re-enacting some eternal drama of rescue and collapse in a constant state of crisis. Digital art brings something of artifice into this grand theme. Curator: Yes! The bright digital palette enhances the surreal vibe. You've got history and modern anxieties compressed into one arresting scene. It’s a playful, knowing twist on historical painting, isn't it? Editor: Absolutely, there's a sly commentary there. The flawless rendering feels... artificial, almost like a computer game setting. This feels incredibly deliberate, an idea further reinforced with digital art itself. Curator: Which gets you wondering if it is eternal at all, or destined for the digital dustbin... a paradox embodied. Kostabi isn’t sentimental. He captures the pulse of our age brilliantly here. Editor: It’s interesting how Kostabi has us rethinking historical grand narratives, right in this hyper-mediated moment. Well, that was enlightening. It's much more engaging than simply another rehash of Roman greatness, I feel. Curator: Precisely. Makes you question who will tell these stories in future centuries and where their virtual home will reside!