Will the Real Mouchette Please Stand Up?

Recently, at a public presentation on Net art the Power Plant, a Toronto-based gallery of contemporary art, a middle-aged man came forward as "Mouchette,"the possibly ficitional nymphet who has revealed her inner thoughts and emotions on an eponymous home page. Initially, to keep the allegedly invented Web identity alive, the artist asked a 12 year old girl to pose as Mouchette; the girl, sick with food poisoning, couldn't attend. So the artist, although he remains anonymous, thus revealed his true self -- to a confused audience unwilling to believe that Mouchette isn't real. Or is she? Judge for yourself.