Catherine Richards: The Virtual Body


  • ©, Catherine Richards, The Virtual Body
  • ©, Catherine Richards, The Virtual Body

Title:


    The Virtual Body

Artist(s) and People Involved:


Symposium:



Artist Statement:


    The Virtual Body is at once a scientific instrument, an aesthetic object, and a postmodern magic box. It simulates the rococo salon in miniature and extends the rococo intoxication and upheaval of the senses into the new technological condition. The column sitting in the room with its pulsing, vibrating, glowing box beckons the viewer to peer into the top, only to be met by his or her own eye peering back through the ceiling. The gradual shift from ceiling to tracking floor collapses the space, causing the spectators to fall into, travel within, and lose themselves inside the phenomenon. With this magic box there is an erasure of physicality, as if not only the room has collapsed, but also our knowledge of the body within space. This twist engages and traps the spectator who becomes at once spectator/object, participant/subject, creating an intense and new aesthetic site.


Category: