Can three complete strangers – from different continents, cultures and creative disciplines – collaborate from afar to create a forceful artistic statement about a political event?
They can. They have. Location One presents “Mission Accomplished,” a virtual-residency collaboration of Hidenori Watanave, Susanne Berkenheger, and Andy Deck. Their work, prepared without ever meeting face-to-face, uses Google Earth, Second Life, wikis and blog technologies – not to mention old-fashioned hand-printed Agitprop posters – to address the forthcoming U.S. Presidential election.
“Mission Accomplished” will be on view at Location One’s project gallery, September 10 to November 8, 2008. The opening is 6 to 8 p.m. September 10. Virtual audiences will be able to view and participate in the work at http://location1.org/missionaccomplished.
“The tools of tele-collaboration have become incredible rich and powerful in the ten years of our existence,” said Location One executive director Claire Montgomery. “We were founded on the themes of collaboration, technological experimentation and social consciousness. When we found that three talents this interesting were willing to take on the elections together, how could we resist? You have to see what they did.”
Susanne Berkenheger (Berlin) is an author and journalist, who writes for “SPAM”, the satirical section of German magazine Der Spiegel. She has been involved in projects in Second Life and “Chat Theatre”.
http://spiegel.de/spam
http://www.berkenheger.de/index_english.html
Hidenori Watanave (Tokyo) is Associate Professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University, and is researching 3Di (Second Life) and 3DGIS (Google Earth). He is interested in collaborative work in the realms of Architecture and Environmental Design in tele-existence and the metaverse.
http://mapping.jp/archi/cat18/
http://mapping.jp/index_en.html
Andy Deck (NYC) is an artist specializing in Internet media. His work addresses the politics and aesthetics of collaboration, interactivity, software, and independent media. Deck combines code, text, sound, and image, demonstrating new patterns of participation and control that distinguish online presence and representation from previous artistic practices.
http://andydeck.com
http://artcontext.org
The three artists all speak English, and all are fluent in Internet media. They were given no restrictions other than not meeting in person, and no directions other than the topic of the forthcoming Presidential election. Heather Wagner, director of online exhibitions, coordinated the project for Location One.
Mission Accomplished?
“The works in this virtual residency demonstrate ways in which presence and participation can be abstract and conceptual. From different points of view, they represent how Internet media and tele-presence have expanded the scope of the 2008 U.S. presidential election to global proportions.” – Andy Deck
OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, September 10, 2008 6–8PM
(open to the public)
EXHIBITION DATES: September 10–November 8, 2008
HOURS: Tuesday-Saturday 12–6PM
About Location One:
Location One (http://location1.org) is a not-for-profit art center devoted to fostering new forms of creative expression and cultural exchange, and expanding the capabilities of our artists. We invite artists from different countries, working in a variety of mediums, to experiment with diverse means of expression/technology and engage with audiences through exhibitions and public programs.
