Third Faction

ISEA2011

Third Faction, founded in 2008, is an affiliation of avatars/entities with a collective interest in exposing binary systems in virtual environments. Third Faction’s focus is to develop a democratized and non-hierarchical praxis as well as governance. This open system welcomes new membership. Current members include a global cabal of artists and performers whose work has been internationally (interdimensionally?) recognized and exhibited. Originating in World of Warcraft, the mission of the Third Faction engages many methodologies to critically examine narratives of the hegemony and society. The Third Faction holds these to the light of “reality” and questions the attitudes that generally pervade game environments. Recruitment for new interventionists, volunteers and agents, is conducted through the use of video, print propaganda, and public appearances/ installations and often becomes part of the work. Third Faction was invited by the Laguna Art Museum to create a program called /hug [pronounced Slash Hug] for the WoW: Emergent Media Phenomenon exhibition./hug is a non-governmental organization that provides philanthropic aid to the war torn world in the World of Warcraft. Many visitors performed their first acts of volunteerism inside the Massively Multiplayer Online environment and our sincerest hope is that they were able to continue this trend in other spaces of human interaction.