“It’s a Small World After All”

This performance piece was created for my Fine Arts 363: Intermedia Studio class in 2008.

Materials: Internet, Email, Website

The various technologies around me, and the functions those technologies serve, initially sparked my interest into what materials I might use. Marshall McLuhan’s “global village” theory, how the “world is contracting spatially into one large village” is the foundation for this piece. McLuhan theorized how the television and radio would impact our global communication ability, before it ever came about. I tied McLuhan’s theory to the email and it’s networking ability.

To create the work, I composed an email, then sent the email out to my other classmates in FA 363, as well as my friends, family, and co-workers. Those wishing to participate, replied back to me, then they would send it out to all of their friends, family, and co-workers. I initially received only 3 replies, after slightly modifying the original email; I resent the email out and started the process over again. To view both emails please visit the link below. The redone email received more than a dozen replies, which means people are more trusting when the first line of the email doesn’t read “THIS IS NOT A SCAM”.

The email sent out read:

This is part of a project that I am completing for an art class at Washington State University.The project is born from Marshal McLuhan’s concept of the Global Village: the idea that “the globe has contracted, spatially, into a single large village.”

If you would like to participate, please:

1) Send this email to me (chyli_2001@yahoo.com) with your first name and the city where you live

2) Send this e-mail to all your friends, family, and co-workers and ask them to do the same.

If you don't wish to participate then don't reply.

To see the results, visit the project’s website: www.tricity.wsu.edu/~jmccourt/networking.html

The website will be operational on July 24, 2008 and will include only your first name and the city where you live. No email addresses will be saved or revealed.

The website created is McLuhan’s theory of the “global village” in electronic terms. The created page is the virtual Rolodex consisting of all the names received up until the deadline of July 24th 2008. The only reason this date was set is due to the course ended on that day. Those wishing to participate after the fact are more than welcome to.