Networked public spaces: an investigation into virtual embodiment

<i>Networked Public Spaces: An Investigation into Virtual Embodiment</i> is an exploration of issues surrounding networked public spaces in relation to three artworks created by the author between 1995 to 2000: <i>Virtual Concrete</i>, (1995); <i>Bodies© Incorporated</i> (1996-2000); and <i>Datamining Bodies </i>(initiated in 2000). All three works have several key things in common: each exists on the Internet; each is conceptually connected to the idea of online identity and virtual embodiment, and each required extensive research to inform and inspire the creative practice. The projects are presented within three main sections, each of which attempts to link personal experience and history to a larger cultural context within which the works were produced. The first section, "Breaking with Tradition," provides an overview of historical events that have influenced the changing relationship between artist and audience and argues that the foundations for networked art were laid largely by conceptual artists working during the 1960s and 1970s. The second section, "Distributed Identity," examines the emergence of identity in online public spaces, focusing specifically on issues surrounding the appropriation and use of the term "avatar," and the current cultural preoccupation with databasing and archiving. The third and final section, "Visualizing the Invisible," explores the various efforts to map cyberspace, particularly paying attention to the implicit intersection of network data visualisations and biological systems, and the popular trend toward developing more "intelligent" networks through use of autonomous agents.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctoral Thesis

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Student thesis

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Author dc:creator

• Vesna, Victoria

• Interactive art
• virtual embodiment
• online identity

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/e64f64d6-be3f-41fb-bab5-6453de03684f

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:pure.atira.dk:studenttheses/e64f64d6-be3f-41fb-bab5-6453de03684f