Avatar Body Collision: swim - an exercise in remote intimacy

Avatar Body Collision: swim
Swim: An Exercise in Remote Intimacy is a stage work that combines
elements of performance and Internet technology in order to connect its
geographically separated creators, who have joined together in real time via
the Internet to form the group Avatar Body Collision. A performer on
stage interacts with three other actors (and the audience) with the help of a
web cam and a graphic chat programme. In this way, the project examines such
issues as the relationship between the body and the machine, the meaning of
humanity in the age of "intelligent" machines, and the quality of
interpersonal relations in computer-mediated communication. These questions are
extremely relevant in an age when we take for granted new informational
technologies (and the relationships they offer us), when we can hardly imagine
life without mobile phones, and when we don't know the real-world addresses of
our e-acquaintances and e-friends.
"swim: An Exercise in Remote Intimacy is a collage of immersive
images, splashy flirtations, wet moments and deep encounters between fleshy
cyberbodies that delves into the possibilities and problems of intimacy without
physical proximity. swim is breath-taking, side-splitting, erotic and
chaotic." (A. B. C.)
The authors describe their activities as 'cyberformance'- a unique,
Internet-based continuity of performance connecting physically separated actors
in real time through the help of Internet technology. The term
"avatar" may need explaining: it refers to the computer-based
representation of a person in multi-user communication environments. The
avatar, usually some graphic symbol that can change at the wish of its owner,
becomes a communication vehicle and a bridge toward building relations with
other members of the virtual community. But most of all, the avatar reflects
its owner's identity, whether real or make-believe.
The cyber-performance swim provides a rare opportunity for confronting
the on-stage expression of the avatar and boldly widening one's horizons.
Jaka Železnikar

Performed by: Helen Varley Jamieson (on stage), Karla
Ptacek, Leena Saarinen, Vicki Smith (via internet)

Organisation: City of Women
In co-operation with: Galerija Kapelica, Kiber Pipa