Performance for Multi-User Online Environments (Before COVID-19)
I’m Angela Washko and I am currently teaching a course called Performance Art (In The Expanded Field) at Carnegie Mellon University and have recently had to switch to teaching remotely - a switch that comes maybe more naturally to me than others because of my experience participating in the net art community and operating as a performance artist specifically within online environments. Before everyone was forced to work remotely because of an international pandemic, many artists were already thinking about the internet as a context for performance art. I wanted to put together a resource focused on artists who have been doing the work of thinking about the specificity of virtual spaces as sites for performance and making work mindful of the unique qualities of the contexts they operate in. I hope that this list of works could be a resource for educators and artists who are interested in looking at artworks by individuals who have been thinking very intentionally about performance in networked contexts.
This list includes artists performing for webcam, artists performing in virtual environments, and artists performing for social media. It specifically focuses on performance, and excludes works of net art that do not contain performance-for-the-internet. The list also primarily focuses on performance works that are made without the use of expensive equipment or access to institutional spaces (although I know there are some exceptions on this list). Also - it is in no way complete or comprehensive!
*This list does not include the many artists who perform for video and upload their performances online - UNLESS the artist is specifically thinking about engaging with the digital audience and not prioritizing the gallery as a context.
**Sexually explicit or violent content that may be uncomfortable for some viewers and situations
Annie Abrahams and Emmanuel Guez, Reading Club (video conferencing)
Annie Abrahams, Daniel Pinheiro and Lisa Parra, DistantFeeling(s) (Zoom)
Annie Abrahams, Ruth Catlow, Paolo Cirio, Ursula Endlicher, Nicolas Frespech and Igor Stromajer, Huis Clos / No Exit (video conferencing)
Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Finding Fanon 2 (Grand Theft Auto V)
Robert Adrian, The World in 24 Hours (networked happening)
LaTurbo Avedon, Visiting Artist Talk (multi platform)
Jeremy Bailey, various performances by Famous New Media Artist Jeremy Bailey (YouTube)
Jeremy Bailey, The You Museum (online advertising banners)
Man Bartlett, 24hr non-Best Buy (Twitter)
Genevieve Belleveau, Gorgeoustaps and The Reality Show (Facebook)
Wafaa Bilal, Domestic Tension (livestream website)
Wafaa Bilal, Virtual Jihadi (Quest for Saddam game)
Mary Bond, autodissociate me (4chan)**
Marco Cadioli, Remap Berlin (Second Life, Google Maps, Twinity)
micha cárdenas, Becoming Dragon (Second Life)
Ruth Catlow and Helen Kaplinsky, Sociality-machine (video conferencing, custom software)
Ruth Catlow, Marc Garrett and Neil Jenkins, VisitorStudio (custom software for online performance)
Jennifer Chan, factum/mirage (Chat Roulette)**
Jennifer Chan, factum/mirage III (Chat Roulette)**
Channel TWo [CH2], barelyLegal (Google Maps)
Corpos Informaticos, Telepresence 2 (telepresence project)
Petra Cortright, VVEBCAM (YouTube)
Jeff Crouse and Aaron Meyes, World Series of ‘Tubing (Competitive YouTube-ing)
James Coupe, General Intellect (Amazon Mechanical Turk)
Joseph DeLappe, dead-in-iraq (America’s Army)
Joseph DeLappe, The Salt Satyagraha Online: Gandhi's March to Dandi in Second Life (Second Life)
Joseph DeLappe, Howl: Elite Force Voyager Online (Elite Force Voyager Online)
Joseph DeLappe, Quake Friends (Quake III Arena)
Kate Durbin, Unfriend Me Now! (Facebook Live)
Kate Durbin, Cloud Nine (Cam4)**
Electronic Disturbance Theater, FloodNet (Java applet)
Entropy8Zuper! (Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn), WIREFIRE (Flash 5)
Entropy8Zuper! (Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn), skinonskinonskin (multi platform)
Jason Eppink, Kickback Starter (website, Kickstarter)
Cao Fei, RMB City (Second Life)
Mary Flanagan, [borders] (Second Life)
Foci + Loci, many projects (Little Big Planet 2)
Ed Fornieles, Dorm Daze (Facebook)
Carla Gannis, C.A.R.L.A G.A.N. (virtual environments and social media platforms)
Riley Harmon, Poser (Andy Warhol’s Grave Livecam)
Amber Hawk Swanson, Sidore (Mark) / Heather > LOLITA (livestream)**
Josh Harris, We Live In Public / Quiet (livestream)
Auriea Harvey, Webcam Movies (webcam)
Ann Hirsch, Scandalishious (YouTube)
Ann Hirsch, horny lil feminist (website)**
Faith Holland, Porn Interventions (RedTube)**
Shawné Michaelain Holloway, a personal project (XTube)**
Shawné Michaelain Holloway, b4bedwithurlbae (Periscope)**
Brian House, Joyride (Google Maps)
Brian House, Tanglr (Google Chrome extension)
E. Jane, E. The Avatar (YouTube, online store)
E. Jane, That time I sold my dreads online (ebay)
JODI, SK8MONKEYS ON TWITTER (Twitter)
Miranda July, Learning to Love You More (website)
Devin Kenny, Untitled/Celfa (webcam performance)
Laura Hyunjhee Kim, The Living Lab (social media, website)
Gelare Khoshgozaran and Nooshin Rostami, Just Like A Disco (webcam)
Gelare Khoshgozaran, Misscommunication (webcam)
Gelare Khoshgozaran, Realms of Observation (Chat Roulette)
Lynn Hershman Leeson, The Dollie Clone Series (webcam livestream)
Olia Lialina, Animated GIF Model (multiple webpages)
Olia Lialina, Self-Portrait (browser)
Olia Lialina, Summer (multiple webpages)
Jordan Wayne Long, Box Shipment #2 (Lord of the Rings Online)
Gretta Louw, Controlling Connectivity (Skype and others)
Low Lives, Virtual Performance Series (livestream)
Michael Mandiberg, Shop Mandiberg (ecommerce site)
Eva and Franco Mattes, Freedom (Counter-Strike Source)
Eva and Franco Mattes, Life Sharing (website)
Eva and Franco Mattes, No Fun (Chat Roulette)**
Eva and Franco Mattes, Re-Enactments (Second Life)
Eva and Franco Mattes, Synthetic Performances (Second Life)
Lauren McCarthy, Follower (artist-made app)
Lauren McCarthy, LAUREN (livestream surveillance)
Lauren McCarthy, Social Turkers (Amazon Mechanical Turk)
Lauren McCarthy, SOMEONE (webcam)
MTAA, 1 year performance video (aka SamHsiehUpdate) (livestream)
Jayson Musson / Hennessy Youngman, Art Thoughtz (YouTube)
Martine Neddam, Mouchette (website)
Mendi and Keith Obadike, Blackness for Sale (ebay)
Marisa Olson, Marisa’s American Idol Training Blog (blog)
Randall Packer & Systaime, #NeWWWorlDisorder (Facebook Live and website)
Sunita Prasad, Sunny & Benny Together Forever (My Free Implants website)
Jon Rafman, Kool Aid Man in Second Life (Second Life)
Bunny Rogers, 9 Years (Second Life)
Stephanie Rothenberg, Invisible Threads (Second Life)
Stephanie Rothenberg, Best Practices In Banana Time (Second Life)
Annina Ruest, A Piece of the Pie Chart (Twitter, webcam)
Annina Ruest, Rock N Scroll (Skype)
Nicole Ruggerio, AR Filters (Instagram)
RaFia Santana, #PAYBLACKTiME (Facebook and Paypal)
Anne-Marie Schleiner, Joan Leandre, Brody Condon, Velvet Strike (Counter-Strike)
Leah Schrager, Sarah White - Naked Therapy (video chat)**
Skawennati, TimeTraveller ™ (Second Life)
Molly Soda, various projects (multi platform)
Georgie Roxby Smith, Fair Game (Grand Theft Auto V)
Georgie Roxby Smith, 99 Problems [Wasted] (Grand Theft Auto V)**
Eddo Stern, Fort Paladin (America’s Army)
Eddo Stern, Runners (Everquest)
Tale of Tales, ABIOGENESIS (Endless Forest)
Third Faction, Demand Player Sovereignty (World of Warcraft)
Toca Loca, Halo Ballet (Halo)
Amalia Ulman, Excellences and Perfections (Instagram, Facebook)
VNS Matrix, Corpusfantastica MOO (MOO - multi-object oriented multi user dungeon)
Addie Wagenknecht & Pablo Garcia, Webcam Venus (sexcam sites)**
Angela Washko, BANGED: A Feminist Artist Interviews the Web’s Most Infamous Misogynist (Skype)
Angela Washko, The Council on Gender Sensitivity and Behavioral Awareness in World of Warcraft (World of Warcraft)
Angela Washko, The World of Warcraft Psychogeographical Association (World of Warcraft)
Brett Watanabe, San Andreas Deer Cam (Twitch, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas)
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Congratulation to the A MAZE. Award 2019 Nominees and Honorable Mentions
“The A MAZE. is a place of inspiration for game makers, digital artists, and creatives who are exploring playful systems for their future projects. In this sense it is important to us to present an artistic and forward-thinking exhibition
of playful media as a whole, that includes games, immersive experiences and narratives, interactive art installations, and other mind-boggling projects on the fringe of play.“, says artistic director Thorsten S. Wiedemann
The submitters’ work ranges from all kinds of playful media, which underline the A MAZE. Awards categories. 25 games will compete in the following 6 categories:
Most Amazing Game Award
Human Human Machine Award
Long Feature Award
Digital Moment Award
Explorer Award
Audience Award
THE NOMINEES:
:THE LONGING: by STUDIO SEUFZ
0_abyssalSomewhere by Nonoise
A_DESKTOP_LOVE_STORY by Alienmelon
Anyball by Team Anyball
Be B:E:R:N:D by MASO HfS Ernst Busch
Bird Alone by George Batchelor, Eli Rainsberry, Allissa Chan
Blabyrinth by Sleeping Beast Games
Consume Me by Jenny Jiao Hsia & AP Thomson
Fantastic Fetus by Fantastic Humans
The Wanderer: Frankenstein’s Creature by La Belle / ARTE France
HanaHana Full Bloom by Mélodie Mousset
Horses by Andrea Lucco Borlera
Kassinn by Huldufugl
Locus Solus by Dream Adoption Society
macdows 95 by Yunus AYYILDIZ
Mundaun by Michel Ziegler
Operation Jane Walk by Leonhard Müllner, Robin Klengel
STATIC by Elijah Cauley and Amit Rai Sharma
Sticky Cats by The Bones Brothers
The Game: The Game by Angela Washko
The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game by Grace Bruxner, Thomas Bowker, Dan Golding
To Call a Horse a Deer by Yuk-Yiu Ip
VM - Virtual Materialism by Jens Isensee & Rico Possienke
WORLD4 by Alexander Muscat
Wrong Box by Molly Soda and Aquma
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
After HOURS by Team after HOURS
Haunted Garage by Games For Ghosts
Laser Mazer AR/VR by Mighty Coconut
Mosh Pit Simulator by Sos Sosowski
Pixel Picasso by Happy Volcano
Small Talk by Pale Room
The Book Ritual by Alistair Aitcheson
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Forget Making Art in the Studio. Artists Are Now Developing Their Latest Works in the Metaverse
Traveling through the bloodied lands of Azeroth, a warlock might be surprised to find the different races of the World of Warcraft game singing kumbaya around a campfire. But something like that became a regular occurrence when the artist Angela Washko, 35, started leading regular conferences on gender sensitivity in the virtual world in 2012.
“I had been working with interventionist artists like the Yes Men and Flux Factory doing performances in public spaces,” explained Washko, who started playing video games when she was five years old. “I started thinking about how some of the gaming environments I was in—specifically the multi-user gaming environments—would benefit from the practices of those activist-oriented communities.”
Only a few years ago, projects like this garnered little attention from the art world and Washko remembers presenting her performances at conferences where art historians failed to consider video games as a valid subject matter. That has changed over the last year with the rising popularity of NFTs, the prevalence of Zoom conferences, and talk about the metaverse. And now, wealthy collectors and institutions are interested in the digital avant-garde, which has used online video games to investigate the promises and pitfalls of virtual life.
Artist Angela Washko (center) leads a conference on gender sensitivity in the virtual world using the massively multi-player online role-playing game World of Warcraft
“Art has always been about the imagination of virtual worlds,” explained Tina Rivers Ryan, a curator at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo with expertise in digital art. “Some people have argued that the concept of virtual reality is as old as cave paintings.”
The digital world offers artists their own laboratories to experiment with the dynamics of online personas and real-life identities. The Mohawk artist Skawennati was an early adopter, creating chat rooms in the 1990s as community spaces for Indigenous people before creating her own island in the online world of Second Life, where she creates videos using in-game production tools for a project called .
For the artist Cassie McQuater, messing around with Google Earth became a gateway into making video games. Her experiments began in 2013 with a desire to wrap the world in her paintings. So McQuater learned coding for geographic rendering and appropriated a tour feature on Google Earth that could overlay landscapes with her digital art. The project, called , took about a year to create.
A still from She Falls For Ages, a video created by the Mohawk artist Skawennati inside the game Second Life
“Once I began coding, I found I really enjoyed the idea of active participation in my work,” McQuater said. “From there it was a natural leap to video games.”
Then there are artists like LaTurbo Avedon, who created an immersive online experience, called Your Progress Will Be Saved in the Virtual Factory, as part of the 2020 Manchester International Festival. Avedon used Fortnite Creative, a sandbox offshoot of the behemoth multi-player battle game, to build the experience, which brings users down a digital rabbit hole into strange, psychedelic worlds enmeshed in color. The goal is to collect memories — gleaming objects that provide cryptic lines of text like, “I remember a cabin, out in the wilderness.”
“As much of the world grapples with a cultural moment of immateriality, Your Progress Will Be Saved shines back the close-yet-far tension of being alone online, together,” Avedon explained to when the project premiered.
Even artworks intended for the physical world have entered the digital realm. During the early pandemic months, many artists transformed their virtual homes in the Nintendo Switch’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons as makeshift galleries, using a gaming function to digitize photographs of their artworks into pixelated images that could be arranged to look like canvases on the walls.
Earlier this month, the artist Stan Douglas partnered with the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio to present his film, (2019), within the virtual world of Decentraland concurrent with its run in the institution’s IRL galleries. The science fiction-inspired film centers around an astronaut named Alice who embarks on a mission into outer space, only to get stuck between two different universes: one in which she receives support upon her return to Earth and another where she is seen as a potential hostile threat.
When presented in physical space, Dopplegänger is usually projected onto a screen in the middle of the gallery so that viewers can see both sides. But in Decentraland, users move through an immersive environment of sets and sounds reproduced from the movie. According to some participants, it wasn’t exactly a success.
A view of the Toledo Museum of Art’s online presentation of Stan Douglas’s film Dopplegänger (2019), within the virtual world of Decentraland.
“I don’t think the work translates to virtual space,” said Kevin Buist, a marketer and former artistic director of ArtPrize. Buist explained that the project contained technical glitches and came off as a poor imitation of its presentation in the real world. He also cautioned artists that work within the virtual world should carry some specificity. “What would it look like to create something that is genuinely new, starting with what is happening with the technology?”
It’s the same kind of question that Angela Washko, the World of Warcraft veteran, wants those entering the digital space to ask themselves. During the pandemic, she created an online resource for artists looking to create online artworks.
“Right now, there is almost an ahistorical approach to thinking about performing online and participating in online environments. It has at times felt like a colonialist approach where artists see video games as uncharted territory,” Washko said. “I just hope that artists think about the specificity of those online environments as unique sites with distinctive communities.”
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