EXCERPT:
Fidèle
à
ces
précédentes
réalisations
telles
que
Les
grandes
questions
(1994-1996),
Les
Tunnels2
(1995-1998),
dans
la
mouvance
tant
de
World
Skin3
(1997),
que
de
Crossing
Talks4
(1999)
et
bien
évidemment
de
Art
Impact5
(2000),
Maurice
Benayoun6
en
présentant
Somebody,
Somewhere,
Some
Time7
n
o
nseulement
sur
le
web
mais
aussi
dans
un
espace
muséal
propose
tout
autant
à
l'internaute
qu'au
visiteur
d'écrire
son
histoire.
Or
derrière
ce
dispositif
interactif
permettant
à
chacun
d'écrire
son
histoire,
c'est
sans
doute
moins
l'histoire
individuelle
que
chacun
écrit
hic
et
nunc
que
l'Histoire
de
l'Humanité,
sous
forme
à
peine
voilée
de
la
responsabilité
partagée
de
chacun
et
de
tous
qui
s'écrit...
[Click here to read entire essay.]
In
this
essay,
Rogue
explores
the
installation/netart
work
"So.So.So.
Somebody,
Somewhere,
Some
time"
by
Maurice
Benayoun,
with
music
by
Jean-Baptiste
Barrière.
In
the
introduction
to
the
piece,
the
project
is
contextualized
thusly:
>
You
will
need
a
java
and
pop-up
enabled
browser,
and
a
Flash
plug-in
to
successfully
view
the
site.
Technical
information
and
email
assistance
are
available
by
clicking
on
the
"?"
button.
Évelyne
Rogue
is
a
Doctor
of
Letters
and
Human
Sciences
at
the
Centre
Sorbonne.
Rogue
is
the
Director
of
artcogitans.com,
an
on-line
resource
list
for
technologically
integrated
artwork.
artgogitans.com
presents
papers
and
interviews
in
both
French
and
English,
examining
media
work
in
the
categories
of
Net
Art,
Lab
Art
and
Bio
Art.
Originally
published
on
12/13/03"After receiving more than 32,000 messages from all over the world," The Helloworld Project ended last night (12/12/03) "with the projection of messages on the UN building in New York."
Allowing anyone with access to the internet or a mobile phone to broadcast messages or statements (personal, political or otherwise) in 'real' space, the Helloworld Project is a new type of project entitled a 'real space' interface, named and created by Swiss digital media artist Johannes Gees.
Making reference to the standard testing of programming output in computing, the "hello world" of the title is a call sign from the virtual. Written into code by the programmer yet visualized by the program itself, it signifies a desire to be spoken to by unknown voices from unknown places. The combination of messages from beyond and the projection of them onto landscapes intermingle the places of our imagination (the virtual, the places we desire and yearn for) with those of our 'reality' (our often-undesirable, tangible spaces): the 'real.'
"Since the Helloworld Project is taking place in the context of the UN World Summit on the Information Society, Johannes Gees sought locations" to project the work "in the east, west, south and north. The aim was to highlight the digital divide," the divide created by technology in the 'real' facilitating access to the 'virtual."
::Garrett Lynch::