t h e _ l i v i n g p r o j e c t F A Q (f r e q u e n t l y a s k e d q u e s t i o n s) . . . . . . . These are some of the questions that have been asked concerning the_living project. You want to know more about the-living? ASK! anne@the-living.org
. ^ . What is a digi-persona? . ^ . . ^ . Why is the digi-persona different than the other ones, like the webcam girls? . ^ . . ^ . What do you mean by "a working chronicle of digital culture"? . ^ . . ^ . Does the_living ever sleep? Can we see her sleeping? . ^ . . ^ . What is a CUSeeMe reflector; what is the difference between this and a web server? . ^ . . ^ . How does creating a life for digi-persona the_living affect the life of the fleshholder? . ^ . . ^ . Where can I meet the_living? . ^ . . ^ . Is the_living taking part in art shows? . ^ . . ^ . What is the difference between the fleshholder and the_living? . ^ . . ^ . What exactly is the life of the_living? . ^ . . ^ . What will remain after the project is over? . ^ .
d i g i - p e r s o n a
Anytime we appear in the digital world, from the simple answering of an email, to taking part in a chat, we do so in the form of our digi-persona. This persona is not a mirror of who we are in the physical world and unlikely to be as complex, but it is nevertheless always the only presentation of ourselves which others see when they encounter us in an on-line environment. This digi-persona is formed not unlike our physical persona, by the environment in which it appears and by our ability to control the impression that we make upon the other. Whether we do nothing to control the presentation of this digi-persona or become absorbed creating new or several digi-personas appropriate to our different social situations, the fact remains that this digi-persona always exists and is our sole albeit inadvertent representative on-line .
d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n t h e _ l i v i n g a n d t h e w e b c a m g i r l s
The webcam girls (Ana Voog, Jennifer Ringley) have created voyeuristic spaces where one individual or artist-performer presents her work. Project the_living distinguishes itself by providing a mediated interactive space in which a new visual culture can develop and where a new audience/participant relationship will exist.
w o r k i n g c h r o n i c l e o f d i g i t a l c u l t u r e
To ensure a rich (visual) narrative, the_living will make a 'pilgrimage' to the birthplaces of digital mythology. The initial stage of this trip begins on the West Coast of the United States and follows a route along the southern border going north at the Eastern Seaboard. This initial trip will be followed by others to Japan (to investigate the social acceptance of personas), and Australia (to investigate the roots of crossover culture). The project's mobile activities will come full circle with the final investigative trip to a number of European locations. Emphasis during this final phase of the project will be placed on the Netherlands and former Yugoslavia where the roots of hacker-culture and culture-hacker mythology lie. The itinerary of this trip has been optimised to include physical locations and individuals that are or have been instrumental in forming our image of the future as humans with and within the digital world. the_living will generate narrative for a continually unfolding on-line performance, 'a working chronicle of digi-culture', by visiting and interacting with key people and locations on the itinerary. The physical locations, the issues and the interactions that the_living makes with her surroundings will be reflected in an unfolding fiction in the Video Conferencing Environment, but a journalistic approach will be patently avoided. The emphasis in the Video Conferencing Environment will be placed upon 'world building' through video and chat, personal e-mails, and instant messaging. Together with the participants the_living will create a year-long interactive fiction. Because of its’ accessibility during and after the project this fully archived video (1 yr. real-time video format 160 x 120) and chat will effectively become a ‘working chronicle of digital culture’.
d o e s t h e _ l i v i n g e v e r s l e e p ?
Yes!
C U S e e M E r e f l e c t o r ? d i f f e r e n c e w i t h w e b s e r v e r ?
CU-SeeMe is a certain 'brand' of reflector browser, just as Netscape is a certain 'brand' of web browser. A browser enables the viewer to view and interact in the particular environment, whether it be the World Wide Web, or the Video Conferencing Environment. A reflector is a streaming video and chat server 'reflecting' back to the participants a continual stream of concurrent chat and moving image. A reflector is similar to a web server in that it serves back to the viewer digital information. It is different in that a web server serves back one page to many viewers (one to many) while a reflector continually updates a visual space to which many participants are contributing (many to many).
c r e a t i n g a l i f e f o r t h e - l i v i n g a f f e c t s t h e l i f e o f t h e f l e s h h o l d e r ?
To create a working chronicle of digital culture the artist will set up conditions for curating her surroundings into a 'broadcast quality' live video and chat stream. Creating video stream and narrative of broadcast quality is quite different than living a normal life. It is like living twice. the_living is hyper living, living more then once, at once.
w h e r e c a n I m e e t t h e _ l i v i n g ?
At the_living's very owm CuSeeme reflector. 141.212.122.47
w i l l t h e _ l i v i n g t a k e p a r t i n a r t s h o w s ?
VIPER Festival: the_living presentation May 23rd AVATAR (Amsterdam): the_living participates in the exhibition opening May 28th Offenes Kulturhaus Linz: short residence and presentation on June 13th
w h a t i s t h e d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n t h e f l e s h h o l d e r a n d t h e _ l i v i n g ?
The video image of the_living is created by the artist who has taken it upon herself to lend her physical appearance and live moments to the digi-persona she creates. The fleshholder lives live moments specifically for use by digi-persona the_living and is in this regard an experience conductor.
w h a t e x a c t l y i s t h e l i f e o f t h e _ l i v i n g ?
The_living is a digital persona. Her life has substance by virtue of the video and chat stream which she broadcasts. Her life has continuity by virtue of the interaction she has with other visitors/participants to the reflector. As the_living's fleshholder says,"I already have a life, and my priority this year consists of providing the visuals and narrative for digi-persona the-living. Her life consits only of what I give her to live plus her interaction with the others online."
w h a t r e m a i n s o n c e t h e p r o j e c t i s o v e r ?
Even during her project the_living creates live video, live TV, using only net-native sources for live broadcast. What will remain after the rpoject is source video, in different formats, of selected live moments of the_living, an immense chat archive, and a large ammount of video, in different formats, intended for TV
Do you have any questions about the_living project? Mail them to anne@the-living.org
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