Virtual Residency Project: Mission Accomplished

[img]http://blast.location1.org/mission.gif[/img]
Mission Accomplished, the culmination of Location One's Virtual Residency Project, is on view from September 10-November 8, 2008.

below is the press release:

A satirist from Berlin…
   … a metaverse scholar from Tokyo…
      … and an artist from New York…
      … create joint work - without meeting in person

They can. They have. Location One presents “Mission Accomplished,” a virtual-residency collaboration of Hidenori Watanave (Tokyo), Susanne Berkenheger (Berlin), and Andy Deck (New York). Their work, prepared without ever meeting face-to-face, uses Google Earth, Second Life, wikis and blog technologies - not to mention old-fashioned hand-printed Agitprop posters - to address the forthcoming U.S. Presidential election.

“Mission Accomplished” will be on view at Location One’s project gallery, September 10 to November 8, 2008. The opening is 6 to 8 p.m. September 10. Virtual audiences will be able to view and participate in the work at http://location1.org/missionaccomplished.


“The tools of tele-collaboration have become incredible rich and powerful in the ten years of our
existence,” said Location One executive director Claire Montgomery. “We were founded on the
themes of collaboration, technological experimentation and social consciousness. When we found
that three talents this interesting were willing to take on the elections together, how could we resist?
You have to see what they did.”

[img]http://blast.location1.org/sus-berlin.jpg[/img]
Susanne Berkenheger (Berlin) is an author and journalist, who writes for "SPAM", the satirical
section of German magazine Der Spiegel. She has been involved in projects in Second Life and
"Chat Theatre". http://spiegel.de/spam

[img]http://location1.org/images/obamabot.jpg[/img]
Hidenori Watanave (Tokyo) is Associate Professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University, and is
researching 3Di (Second Life) and 3DGIS (Google Earth). He is interested in collaborative work in
the realms of Architecture and Environmental Design in tele-existence and the metaverse.
http://mapping.jp/archi/cat18/

[img]http://blast.location1.org/election.gif[/img]
Andy Deck (NYC) is an artist specializing in Internet media. His work addresses the politics and
aesthetics of collaboration, interactivity, software, and independent media. Deck combines code,
text, sound, and image, demonstrating new patterns of participation and control that distinguish
online presence and representation from previous artistic practices.
http://andydeck.com

“The works in this virtual residency demonstrate ways in which presence and participation can be
abstract and conceptual. From different points of view, they represent how Internet media and tele-
presence have expanded the scope of the 2008 U.S. presidential election to global proportions.” -
Andy Deck

The three artists all speak English, and all are fluent in Internet media. They were given no restrictions other than not meeting in person, and no directions other than the topic of the forthcoming Presidential election. Heather Wagner, director of online exhibitions, coordinated the project for Location One.

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, September 10, 2008 6-8PM
(open to the public)

EXHIBITION DATES: September 10-November 8, 2008
HOURS: Tuesday-Saturday 12-6PM

for more information or hi-res images, please email [email protected]