THE
ACTIONS OF FRED FOREST
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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