Lexus is the Nexus: Avatars at Rhizome.org

The surreal Operating System represented here may superficially resemble the circles of the Italian poet's Inferno, but one is never sure if, trapped here in the cool blue and black world of icons and avatars, one is particularly damned. Instead, the Avatar Project seems to propose more of a disembodiment-via-hyperreality as opposed to a damnation (Marotta and Russo are no cyber-luddites, as is exemplified by the recurrence of the primary file icon, a blinking eye suspiciously similar to the Photoshop project icon, labelled, here, "Gift.").

The poetry of this piece is top notch, and I found myself wishing there was more to the piece (thus far, I've only been able to find two or three screens). Lines like "The skinny mind of your hand/caching memory" appropriate the language of digital engagement and make of it a superbly eerie poetic experience. The imagery is also highly adroit in finding metaphor in the world of Operating Systems and File Icons (my favorite sequence comes when the "Gift" icon plunges in a flurry of ripples below a line at the bottom on the screen; the descent into this "water" is illustrated by a long skinny vertical line, resembling quite strongly a scrollbar).

For a truly cool and intriguing descent into the world of computer-mediated communications, the Avatar Project provides us with a metaphor by which to breath.

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