This extraordinary 'cyberwedding' will be celebrated by André Santini mayor, member of parliament and vice-president of the Assemblée Nationale. Witnesses will be present in person and on-line with the live participation of Vint Cerf, one of the founders of Internet (IP protocols).

This event is meaningful since it concerns a true wedding (not a simulation by avatars, such as has already been seen on the Internet) bringing together two artists whose work has for years been based entirely around new technologies. Sophie Lavaud and Fred Forest will create the staging and images for their own wedding and will transform the ceremony into a real work of art.

The wedding will take place simultaneously in real-time, in a real space, on the Internet and in a 3D space set up in the wedding hall where the bride and groom will be understudied by their own clones.

From a theoretical point of view this is not simply a way of using "enhanced" reality but represents an extremely narrow hybridisation between reality and simulation that they become enmeshed into a single and same thing.

Reality and Virtuality go hand-in-hand and their spaces interconnect so closely that what was yesterday a purely technical manoeuvre becomes, in this case, a symbolic personal commitment and an act of citizenship. The ancestral rite of marriage becomes rejuvenated, enriched and brought right up to date in a modern format for a modern society and a new, emerging culture.

Moreover, this wedding is not an event seeking to create a purely promotional or media impact. It is the deepest wish of two individuals who have decided to unite and give meaning to their lives and provide a solid social, psychological and emotional family base for their son Adrien-Oscar, who will be 18 months old on 18th March - on the day of his parents' wedding.


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