The ego machine, created for a show of artist-designed funerary urns, assumes that as our lives become more digitized, so will our deaths. Our vain efforts to project our historical selves into the future will be reflected in systems and programs that will eventually be created to carry on our egos. My virtual agent, a web spider, scours the web for mentions of my name. the results are stored in a database, which drives the the artist’s image in Shockwave. As the mentions increase, an image of myself on-screen multiples and becomes younger. As the mentions decline, my image loses its health and deteriorates. Since this is a project in perpetuity, its results may be imperceptible to the casual viewer. To make this more interesting for the viewer, they are allowed to feed (or starve) my ego by clicking the + or - symbols on-screen.
Full Description
The ego machine, created for a show of artist-designed funerary urns, assumes that as our lives become more digitized, so will our deaths. Our vain efforts to project our historical selves into the future will be reflected in systems and programs that will eventually be created to carry on our egos. My virtual agent, a web spider, scours the web for mentions of my name. the results are stored in a database, which drives the the artist’s image in Shockwave. As the mentions increase, an image of myself on-screen multiples and becomes younger. As the mentions decline, my image loses its health and deteriorates. Since this is a project in perpetuity, its results may be imperceptible to the casual viewer. To make this more interesting for the viewer, they are allowed to feed (or starve) my ego by clicking the + or - symbols on-screen.
Work metadata
- Year Created: 2005
- Submitted to ArtBase: Monday Feb 28th, 2005
- Original Url: http://www.swampmonster.org/new/egoMachine.htm
- Permalink: http://www.swampmonster.org/new/egoMachine.htm
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Work Credits:
- david sullivan, creator
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