Shelley Jackson’s Skin is equal parts conceptual art, performance art, literature, and Internet art. In 2003, Jackson wrote a 2,095-word short story that will never be published in the traditional sense. Instead, Jackson invited readers to apply to have one word from the story, chosen at random by the author, tattooed on his or her body. The project is ongoing and to date 1,875 applicants have been accepted and 553 have been permanently inked. This topographical writing will live in the world on the bodies of its participants (who are known as “words”) and will die as they do, word by word.
"[For] the Berkeley Art Museum, Jackson has cut together video footage from a small set of participants to tell a new sub-'Skin' story. Recently Jackson e-mailed them to ask that they record a video of their word tattoo, and to say the word. From those words recorded by participants, she's edited and assembled a new story." - Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
Link:
http://netart.bampfa.berkeley.edu/
Richard Rinehart is the Director of the Samek Art Gallery at Bucknell University. Previous to holding his position at Bucknell, Richard was the Digital Media Director and Adjunct Curator at the UC Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive. Richard has taught digital art studio and theory at UC Berkeley in the Center for New Media and Art Practice departments. He has also been visiting faculty at the San Francisco Art Institute, UC Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University, Sonoma State University, and JFK University. Richard sits on the Executive Committee of the UC Berkeley Center for New Media and has served on the Board of Directors for New Langton Arts in San Francisco. Richard manages research projects in the area of digital culture, including the NEA-funded project, 'Archiving the Avant Garde', a national consortium of museums and artists distilling the essence of digital art in order to document and preserve it. Richard is a new media artist whose art works, papers, projects, and more can be found at http://www.coyoteyip.com
Michael Connor