55
PUBLIC PERFORMANCE / VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENT / WEB SITE
THE
TECHNO-MARRIAGE
CITY
HALL, ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX
18 MARCH 1999
FRED
FOREST AND SOPHIE LAVAUD, CO-AUTHORS
BRUNO HERBELIN, PR0GRAMMER
http://www.fredforest.org/technomariage/default.htm
The
“Techno-Marriage” is work rich in esthetic, social,
and philosophical significance insofar as it was real wedding
as well as a collaborative and interactive artwork and an
experiment in online ritual: i.e., Forest and Lavaud were
legally married in artistic performance combining a civil
ceremony conducted at city hall and a digital replica of the
ceremony, acted out in real time by their digital avatars
(in response to input from movement sensors worn by their
flesh-and-blood counterparts) in a surrealistic virtual reality
setting. Both versions of the ceremony were webcast simultaneously
on the project website, which was set up to accommodate the
long-distance participation of certain members of the wedding
party as well as interested members of the general public,
who could email their messages of congratulations and order
flowers or wedding gifts online.
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