Net art is an extremely versatile medium, in which the author has great control over content, display method, and relationship with the viewer. By analyzing the work of women such as Shelly Jackson, Adrienne Eisen, Tina Laporta, and Donna Leischman, we can take a close look at how these choices are applied.
Shelly Jackson’s My Body starts out as a graphic piece. Her white sketch of a body on a black background is very reminiscent of an x-ray. The “windows” used to surround highlighted appendages adds to this illusion. By clicking on said “window,” the hypertext engages the viewer into a diary environment. Each body part has its own individual entry, and within each entry are more hyperlinks that will take you to another entry. In this manner, Jackson creates a seemingly endless amount of entries. Other than its initial illustration, this piece acts mostly as a work of literature.
Six Sex Scenes, by Adrienne Eisen, is entirely a digital diary. There is an overwhelming amount of entries surrounding Eisen’s life, with emphasis on the relationship with her boyfriend Andy and doubts about her own heterosexuality. To assume this autobiographical would be foolish, especially since there is such a sarcastic, sardonic, and comedic undertone to most of her entries. I found her linking strategy to be very engaging, as no page contained the same links. There was no order to the entries and it allowed the viewer to move through them at random, never following an ongoing theme (at least not in any particular order).
An early C.U.C.ME. piece done by Tina Laporta is titled Distance. She links a visual and textual narrative through a linear form. This locks the viewer into one story, which she has complete control over (unlike Jackson & Eisen). To me, her work seemed like a foreshadowing of ChatRoulette, in which the viewer can only click forward to the net vid chat window. Her theme also resonates with ChatRoulette, as the users log on to achieve that sense of intimacy, leaving traces on screens, but also so distant from the interaction. This piece seemed very close to autobiographical, as Laporta must have experienced these emotions, but by using the word “she,” the “I” factor is lost.
Donna Leishman’s Red Riding Hood was my least favorite of this weeks discussion. While her visuals were engaging, the story presented empty options. You want to click the other windows but you can’t. Even when she asks “Let Red Dream” or “Wake Her Up,” the only hyperlink that works is waking her up. I was able to find a secret diary of hers within the work, but it was far from worth the effort it took to find. Her work reminded me of a program I used in elementary school called “HyperStudios,” which involved creating graphic scenes with embedded buttons used to progress the story.
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