Basic Information
Description
description provided by the artist:
M3x3 is considered as the first video artwork in Latin America and a pioneering computer dance worldwide. Programmed in FORTRAN IV and processed at the Computer Center of the University of Campinas, the work was produced as a video dance by TV Cultura in São Paulo in 1973.
Conceived for nine dancers, the piece introduces a choreographic vocabulary based on orthogonal body movements, proposing a new language of dance expression of the new technological and social dynamics. This aesthetic exploration would later find echoes in the emergence of 1980s street dance, revealing affinities in how the body articulates itself in response to contemporary urban culture.
The scenography and costumes are composed of irregular dotted lines, while the high-contrast video image merges body and environment into two essential visual elements—black and white—evoking the binary logic of the computer. Individual identity is deliberately dissolved, giving way to a reflection on massification and collective presence, as all dancers appear visually indistinguishable.
The sound consists of a metronome with two distinct temporal pulses, offering a critical commentary on mechanical society. Created during the period of Brazilian political dictatorship, M3x3 also invites interpretation as an artistic response to the tensions of its historical context.
Today, M3x3 is preserved in major international museum collections, including MoMA New York and Museo Reina Sofía, among others, affirming its enduring relevance in the global history of art, technology, and dance.
Duration: 12 min 32 sec
Format: 4 x 3
M3x3 Exhibitions:
1973 Coreography, computer programmation, direction and performance: Computer Dance for VT – M3x3, processed at “Centro de Computação da Universidade Estadual de Campinas” and produced by “TV Cultura de São Paulo”, Brazil.
1973 “Interact Man: Machine: Society” at “International Festival of Edinburgh”, Scotland.
1973 “XII Bienal de São Paulo”, São Paulo, Brasil.
1973 “Jovem Arte Contemporanea” at “Museu de Arte Contemporanea da Universidade de São Paulo”, Brazil.
1974 “Arte de Sistemas in LatinAmerica” at “International Cultureel Centrum”, Anthuerp, Belgium.
1974 “LatinAmerican Films and Video Tapes” at “Media Study of State University of New York”, Buffalo, USA.
1974 “Festival Experimental” at “Centro de Arte y Comunicación”, Buenos Aires, Argentine.
1974 “Instituto Musical de São Paulo”, Brazil.
1974 “The Bat-Sheva Seminar on Interaction of Art and Science”, Jerusalem, Israel.
1974 “LatinAmerica 74” at “Institute of Contemporary Arts”, London, England.
1974 “Esthétique et Mass Media: la Télévision” course by René Berger, “Université de Lausanne”, Suisse.
1975 “Latin America 74” at “Espace Cardin”, Paris, France.
1975 “Galleria Civica D’Arte Moderna”, Ferrara, Italy.
1975 “International Conference Computer & Humanities/2” at “University of University of Southern California”, Los Angeles, USA.
1975 Instituto Goethe, São Paulo, Brazil.
1976 “20th American Dance Guild Conference” introduced by Jeanne Beaman, “Massachussets Institute of Technology”, Cambridge, USA.
1976 Public TV Channel – WGBH -, Boston, USA.
1977 “Teatro Galpão”, São Paulo, Brazil.
1983 “I Exposição de Artes Computacionais da SUCESU-SP” at “Informática 83”, São Paulo, Brazil.
1996 “4. Studio de Tecnologia de Imagens” at UNESP/SESC/SENAI, São Paulo, Brazil.
1997 “Precursor e Pioneiros da Arte Contemporanea” at “Paço das Artes”, São Paulo, Brazil.
1999 “IX Festival Internazionale de Videodanza – Il Coreografo Elettronico” at “Institut Français de Naples” Italy.
2003/2005 “Made in Brazil” Itaucultural, São Paulo, Brazil.
2003 “Subversão dos Meios”, Itaucultural, São Paulo, Brazil.
2005 “Mostra Audiovisual da Dança em Pauta”, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, SP.
2007 “Galeria Expandida”, Galeria Luciana Brito, SP, Brazil.
2007 “1969-1974 um dia que ter terminado”, MAC USP, SP, Brazil.
2013 SP Arte, Anita Beckers Galerie, São Paulo, Brazil.
2015 Anita Beckers Galerie at Feira Internacional de Arte ARCO, Madrid, Spain.
2015 “Moving Image Contours: Points for a Surrounding Movement” at “Tabakalera”, San Sebastián, Spain.
2016 “A Dança como Cinema”, CINUSP Paulo Emílio, USP, Brazil.
2016 “The End of The World”, Centro Pecci, Italy.
2017 “Radical Women” at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA; and Pinacoteca, São Paulo, Brazil.
2017 “LatinAmerica”, Laxart, Los Angeles, USA.
2018 “Algoritmos Suaves” at “Comunitat deiMusei de Valencia”, Spain.
2018 “Chutes Inesquecíveis” at “Museu de Arte Moderna”, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2018 “Coder Le Monde” at “Centre Pompidou”, Paris, France.
2018 “Chance and Control” at “Victoria&Albert Museum”, London, England.
2018 “35. Festival Internacional de Cinema”, Jerusalem, Israel
2019 “Chutes Inesquecíveis” at “UNIBES Cultural”, São Paulo, Brazil.
2019 “Faces” at “Es Baluard Museu dArt Modern I Contemporani de Palma”, Spain.
2019 “El Giro Notacional” at “Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León”, Spain.
2019 “SP-Arte, setor Mestres”, Galeria Isabel Aninat, São Paulo, Brazil.
2019 “Fairest of the Fair” at “Bao Out Post”, Manilla, Philippines.
2019 “BAM – Bienal de Artes do Movimiento”, Madrid, Spain.
2021 “M3x3 y Notación en Latinoamerica” at Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain.
2022 “BEEP Collection at Recinte Modernista de Saint Pau”, Barcelona, Spain.
2022 “Fauna, Flora e Primavera”, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
2023 “From Body to Code” at ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany.
2023 “Corpografias”at Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderna, Las Palmas, Spain.
2023 “Coded” at LACMA, Los Angeles, USA.
2024 “Electric Op”, Buffalo, NY, USA.
2024 “Radical Software”, MUDAM, Luxembourg.
2024 “Radical Software”, Wien, Austria.
2025 “Electric Op”, Nantes, France.
2025 “Antagonistas”, Museu de Arte Contemporanea da Universudade de São Paulo, Brazil
2025 “Hello World”, NewArt Centre, Spain
2025 “Waldemar Cordeiro – Constellation”, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
Detail images of the work
