Selwa Sweidan | Media Design Practices Lab ’16!
Thesis Statement of Interest!
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The Wanderer — Performative Prototyping in Real and Virtual Space!
I am framing my thesis as an investigation led by a methodology (performative prototyping), a
theme (the wanderer) and a context (the mediums and conceptual juxtaposition of real and/or
virtual space).!
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Performative prototyping can be understood by asking the question, how can performance and
choreographic practices shape design research? Performative prototyping is a form of critical
prototyping. Prototyping is described as “a manifestation or externalization of an idea” 1. What
differentiates performative prototyping from other modes of critical prototyping, is firstly, its use
of performance. Performative prototyping embodies a kind of oxymoron in that during the
process of performative prototyping, a performer represents an idea, but is also living through
the idea. In this way, the performer symbolizes a proof of concept, but also exists as the vessel
of an experience. While performative prototyping is indeed a manifestation or externalization of
an idea, it is also the enactment, or embodiment of an experience. The performed prototyping of
ideas as an experience becomes a method for ideating around technologies or circumstances
that are not yet in existence. !
Above: creative practices in the matrix of real-virtual space vs. experiential-demonstrative intentions in work
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Performative prototyping follows in the tradition of dance crossing over or becoming part of
hybridized practice — including Performance Artist Marie Cool and Body Architect Lucy Mcrae
who both draw on backgrounds in dance, and reframe performance outside the context of
dance.!
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The Wanderer — the flâneur and/or the nomad!
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The theme or concept I intend to explore is that of the wanderer. The wanderer presents itself
as the flâneur in virtual space and also autobiographically, motivated by my interest in structures
and systems of bedouin culture. Both the bedouin nomad, and the virtual flâneur become ways
to address questions about culture, geopolitics, location and identity. !
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In relation to the bedouin (nomadic) culture, I am interested in how gifting practices operate, and
how forms of reputation management are encoded and enacted. What are bedouin hierarchies
of loyalty based on proximity of kinship? How do these different loyalties manifest? Can these
be understood as designed phenomena? What is the significance of looking at the social
contract in bedouin culture through the lens of the micropolitical? In summary - how do differing
proximities of kinship, gifting practices and reputation management translate as design
operations? !
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To support the unpacking of these questions, I intend to seek out texts such as Gilles Deleuze’s
“Desert Islands: and Other Texts” the writing of Hito Steyerl 2. As a way to guide the translation
of research into designed iterations, I wish to consider post-internet artists who publish,
republish, and re-version their works online. Current references include Bunny Rogers3 and
Mauser’s zine-making practice4 , perhaps best summed up by reflecting on Sterling Crispin’s
thought that “(t)he societal expectation for an artist in the post-internet era often lies in a
constant stream of fragmented gestures, constructed to be quickly digested and ‘shareable’.” 5!
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The virtual and/or real !
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Using theories about Post-Internet Art as a reference point, I intend to visually explore ideas
through competing and juxtaposed creations in virtual spaces. As a continuation of my interest
in Unity, I hope to to create the virtual spaces that allow the wanderer to roam digitally.!
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Brian Droitcour 6 describes Kari Altmann’s work as “art that can be present in several places
simultaneously, that links its audience to other Internet cultures, that is created from an
awareness of, or deep involvement in, a world transformed and affected by elaborate technical
ensembles.” Sterling Crispin argues that “this kind of activity is machine-based (or aided/
informed) production, but it’s the production of alienation, it’s a product of the spectacle not of
the real. [..] It generates and embraces alienation itself as a product, rather than producing an
investigation into the understanding of ones own existence.” 5 While I align myself with these
statements, I am seeking to provide a counter to this and generate work that plays with the
vernacular of Post-Internet Art, but also allows for an investigation into the understanding of
ones own existence. !
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References
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1
Manker, John, and Mattias Arvola. "Prototyping in Game Design: Externalization and
Internalization of Game Ideas." In Proceedings of HCI 2011: Health, Wealth & Happiness: The 25th
BCS Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. (2011). !
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In Defense of the Poor Image, Hito Steyerl. http://www.e-flux.com/journal/in-defense-of-the-poorimage/!
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Cuny Tumblr, Bunny Rogers. http://cunny4.tumblr.com/!
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Junk Jet, http://junkjet.net/ !
5 Crispin,
Sterling. “Deconstructing the Image-Object. Wading in the Wake of Symbolization”, 2013.
http://www.sterlingcrispin.com/wading.html!
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6 Droitcour,
Brian. “The Perils of Post-Internet Art”, October 2014. http://
www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/magazine/the-perils-of-post-internet-art/!
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