Proposed abstract for DAC09

Abstract submitted for themes:- Embodiment and performativity- A Space-Time of Ubiquity and EmbeddednessClaiming the Portable Home: Creative Acts of Identity Placemaking within the Digital Domain.This paper will discuss creative extension of the self into the digital domain as a technology mediated experience and the folding over of what is said ‘virtual’ into the situation of mixed reality.The contemporary digital experience allows a person to operate within multiple locations, cultures and spaces simultaneously through the technologies of mobile internet, mashups of social network applications and virtual world participation among others. Socially extending within these networked spaces enables a place(s) for creative profile generation. The act of labelling or branding ‘what is mine’ has not radically altered from the activity of decorating a notebook with tic-tac-toe, names of favourite rock stars and stickers. These intentional acts that identify the owner with the object through an expression of interest are trademarks within digital spaces like MySpace and facebook where glittering animated GIFs, automated music players and embedded quizzes adorn profile pages. What is different though is that this broadcasting of deliberate identity branding is no longer tied to a social network which exists within the geographical parameters predetermined by a persons day to day meanderings. The situation of the digital domain allows for social placemaking across a vast geographical space to a maintained network and with an extending phantom limb into spaces unknown to the profile holder.I will identify artists who are demonstration the breadth of technology mediated experiences and documenting the current shift into a digital social network embedded culture. This paper will chronicle critical mash-ups of MySpace rendered animated gif’s by artist Olia Lialina to Marisa Olson’s Assisted Living, a ‘Martha Stewartesque’ performative parody to the tune of technology dependant living in old age. Artist Annabeth Robinson also known as Angrybeth Shortbread, a name adopted for her Second Life avatar, is the creator of Avatar DNA which generates a user defined visualization from the Key (UUID) demonstrating that each identity is in fact unique marking a place within the technology mediated social net. I will also discuss my own performances as Edwige Pronovost, my avatar who manifests herself in the physical and travels the ‘real world’ in search for the spaces she visits in Second Life. Our journeys have taken us from Leeds, UK to Toronto’s CN Tower, to New York’s MoMA, to a mini-gulf course in Cocoa Beach Florida.It is a Mixed Reality that is resulting from embeddedness, where the combined effect of ‘the real’ and ‘the virtual’ are in one space enabling a merged physical and digital experience where the situation of the digital domain is emotionally felt and embodied.I recommend following these links for visual references to the mentioned art works.Olia Lialina:http://hypertemps.procurate.com/index.php?id=P45Marisa Olson:http://www.wooloo.org/assisted/Annabeth Robinson:http://www.annamorphic.co.uk/dna.htmlMegan Smith & Edwige Pronovost (avatar):http://megansmith.ca/blog/?paged=5Digital Arts and Culture ConferenceUniversity of California Irvinehttp://dac09.uci.edu/index.html