Aram Bartholl, "Ai Weiwei", from Google Portrait Series

During this class we looked at some examples of artists whose work relates to Assignment 6, the Avatar project.

Many artists use pseudonyms, or create alternate identities for themselves. Marcel Duchamp’s alter ego Rrose Sélavy is a well-known example; her name is a pun on the French phrase “Eros, c’est la vie”. Duchamp also famously signed his Fountain readymade “R. Mutt”. Contemporary examples of artists’ alter egos include Netochka Nezvanova, Darko Maver, Margaret Penney’s DiaryU project, and Mouchette.org.

In class we watched the Art 21 video of Cindy Sherman, who examines stereotypes and media representation of women in photographic self-portaits such as her Untitled Film Stills. Toronto artist Rafael Goldchain uses similar strategies in his photo series Familial Ground, in which he disguises himself as his ancestors.

Though the ability to participate anonymously on by the web may be changing, anonymity has been a theme of many internet artworks and projects. A notable example is PostSecret, “an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.”

Other examples of artists and artworks examining digital identity include Aram Bartholl’s Google Portrait Series and WoW workshops, Nicholas Felton’s Personal Annual Reports, and the collaborative projects self.detach and OneAvatar.

This excellent video interview with Jon Rafman about his Kool-Aid Man in Second Life project touches on many aspects of digital identity, web subcultures, and being an artist in the digital age. Be forewarned that parts of the video are NSFW (not safe for work), as the artist and interviewer wander through the rampantly anarchic virtual world of Second Life.