Martine Brinkhuis on Fri, 16 Jan 1998 12:57:02 +0100 (MET) |
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nettime-nl: AVATAR - CALL FOR PROPOSALS <15/1/98 |
AVATAR Of postmodern times and multiple identities Amsterdam, 18/4-3/5/98 Organized by: Axis, De Balie, Maatschappij voor Oude en Nieuwe Media and Paradox. Dear Colleague(s), Thanks to the generous support of the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts and the Mondriaan Foundation, Paradox, Axis and De Balie are happy to announce AVATAR, an event consisting of exhibitions, a symposium, and a special party around the phenomenon of multiple personality. The event will take place at a number of Amsterdam based institutions from April 18 - May 3. Main exhibition site will be a 12th C church in the heart of the red light district. An outline of the concept is following this message. We would greatly appreciate your suggestions for projects to be included, both from artists (for the exhibition) or theoreticians (for the symposium or MOO Meeting as it will be called). Please feel free to distribute this message to others. The deadline for proposals is close: January 15, 1998. It is our intention to make the exhibition available for take-over. Thanks in advance for your help, sincerely, Bas Vroege (Paradox), Martine Brinkhuis (De Balie), Deanna Herst (Axis) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- AVATAR Of postmodern times and multiple identities EXHIBITION & SYMPOSIUM organized by: Axis, De Balie, Maatschappij voor Oude en Nieuwe Media and Paradox. Amsterdam, 18/4-3/5/98 OUTLINE Intensive users of the Internet are familiar with the concept of the Avatar. An "Avatar" is an "Alter Ego," a disguise that an Internet user puts on in "Cyberspace" when communicating on "websites," "chatboxes" or "MUDS" (Multi-User Dungeons or Domains). Because of the deceptive play of "Avatars," no one actually knows with whom he or she is really in contact. The form of the "Avatar" is to a great extent determined by how creative the user is. At the simplest level, you can pose as a man when you are a woman, or vice versa, pose as old while being young, assume an entirely different profession, etc. But at the same time you can also make use of multiple personalities, something that "users" appear to be doing more and more frequently. Ever advancing technological possibilities allow these guises to take on increasingly detailed forms, thereby more closely approximating reality. Where formerly the communication in chatboxes took place entirely through typed text on the screen, it is now possible to give avatars a photographic "face" and, with "text to speech" software, to convert typed text into audio communication. Popular commercial websites such as The Palace, for instance, are already making use of these possibilities. These developments mark the beginning of a "new life-form" in electronic space. Taking on various roles or guises has come to be almost routine for us, not just in cyberspace but also in physical reality. It is the consequence of social and professional pressures requiring top performance in any area of our lives. The growing anonymity of urban society enables people to more easily maintain these multiple, parallel aspects than previously would have been the case. It goes without saying that the possiblities the electronic society offers in this respect, are unparallelled. These developments have recently given rise to questions, particularly psychological in nature. Illnesses such as MPS (Multiple Personality Syndrome), schizophrenia and other identity problems might increasingly be lying in wait for us, if we are not able to cope with the demands of modern society. This implies keeping control over the identities connected to the different roles we have (or want to play) in it. But although the threat with regard to this phenomenon is primarily attributed to cyberspace, such developments took (and take) place in the "real" world as well. Roll playing which breaks through identity, such as "gender-bending," transvestitism (theatrical and otherwise) and the "alter egoism" of the personae behind certain amusement, chat and sex telephone numbers, however, have become completely accepted. One can thus say that this is a rather general (and older) social phenomenon; people no longer unthinkingly accept the limits laid on them by a single identity. Through these deceptive exhibitionist games people consciously flout social control. BACKGROUND The theme of "multiple personality" has had a history of legitimacy as a source of inspiration for visual artists which goes back much further than its history as a social phenomenon. One of the pioneers in this field in the visual arts was Marcel Duchamp, who in the 1920s attained notoriety with his female "avatar" Rose Sélavy. Since the 1980s the theme has been related primarily to identification with media personages. as e.g. in the early work of Cindy Sherman. In the present decade, the increasingly indistinct border between male and female identity has become an important point of departure. In her photographs, Catherine Opie (USA) soberly documents Lesbian women who move in transvestite circles. Her gallery of portraits is a peculiar inventory of a subculture in which the right to determine one's own identity predominates over gender conventions. For the interactive installation Genderbender, Greg Garvey (USA) was inspired by the anonymity those who use chatboxes, MUDS and MOOS. Proceeding from this, he investigated psychological tests in the field of sexual identity. Genderbender challenges users of the installation to undergo a personality test themselves. On the basis of the users' questions, the computer gives a definitive answer about their identity ("You are a man!" "You are a woman!" "You are androgynous!") An initially androgynous individual, who becomes more masculine or feminine depending on the questions asked, appears on a monitor. Users are themselves responsible for the end result. Another component is the process of observing in contemporary technological culture, a subject that is being investigated by artists chiefly through the use of new media. Based on this process, Lynn Hershman (USA) shapes various different female characters in her interactive video installations. In addition, she has made a pair of video films about how relationships arise through the internet, by means of assuming a different self. Avatar intends to bring together projects from artists who are investigating the phenomenon of "multiple personality." In addition to photography, video and installations, projects which make use of new media will be at the heart of the project. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- DATES The project will take place from April 18 through May 3, 1998, and will take place at a number of different locations in Amsterdam. Main location for the exhibition, however, is the Oude Kerk (a 12th C church in Amsterdam's red light district). PROPOSALS The deadline for submitting proposals is January 15, 1998. SHORTLISTED ARTISTS (subject to change) Jeanine Antoni (USA), Bea de Visser (NL), Jake & Dinos Chapman GB), Lynn Hershman (USA), Cindy Sherman (USA), Hamish Buchanan (CDN), Tony Oursler (USA), Gillian Wearing (GB), Ken Feingold (USA), Vibeke Tandberg (Norway), Cathie Opie (USA), Paulina Wallenberg-Olsson (S), Lawrence Weiner (USA) and others. PROGRAMMING Bas Vroege (Paradox), Deanna Herst (Axis), Martine Brinkhuis (De Balie) FUNDING Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, Mondriaan Stichting CONTACT Axis Oudezijdsvoorburgwal 72 1012 GE Amsterdam The Netherlands T +31 (0)20 4655530 F 4654290 E axisvm@xs4all.nl De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10 1017 RR Amsterdam The Netherlands T +31 (0)20 5535151 F 5535155 E brink@xs4all.nl Paradox PO Box 113 1135 ZK Edam The Netherlands T +31 (0)299 315083 F 315082 E paradox@knoware.nl ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- PLEASE DIRECT ALL (PHYSICAL) MAIL TO AXIS (Please CC Email correspondence) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paradox Postbus 113 1135 ZK Edam The Netherlands T +31 (0)299 315083 F +31 (0)299 315082 E paradox@knoware.nl --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- * Verspreid via nettime-nl. 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