[spectre] New Media Lounge this wednesday!

[dj lotu5]

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: 	this wednesday!
Date: 	Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:17:00 -0700
From: 	New Media Lounge <fhanna AT ucsd d()t edu>
To: 	newmedialounge-l at mailman.ucsd.edu <newmedialounge-l at mailman.ucsd.edu>


Hello all digital art junkies and what have you,

New Media Lounge is excited to bring MFA Candidate, Micha Cardenas for 
an exclusive motion capture demonstration in the Performative Computing 
Lab at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA). Micha 
will be discussing her recent project /*Becoming* *Dragon*/, a 365 hour, 
(2 week long) performance in Second Life. The performance is believed to 
be the first of its kind in Second Life, and Micha will talk about her 
experience and research, in addition to a techie demonstration of the 
motion capture setup involved.

Join us on Wednesday, April 15th, at 6pm for some food, drinks, good 
music, and mocap fun. The Performative Computing Space in CRCA is 
located in Cal(IT)2, (Atkinson Hall) in Warren college, on the first 
floor.  Make a right past the elevators, follow the hallway to the right 
once again, and you can't miss it. There will be signs posted as well.

Flyer here:
http://bang.calit2.net/tts/michaNmlFlyer.png


See you then!!!
-nml



More on Becoming Dragon, 
from http://www.calit2.net/newsroom/release.php?id=1431 

"In an age when biotechnology has made it possible to alter the 
fundamentals of our food supply, our energy sources and even our genetic 
makeup, one graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, 
is pushing the limits of what it means to be human by exploring the 
intersections of biotechnology, art and virtual-reality in an immersive, 
durational performance titled */Becoming Dragon/*."

"The project is a means of questioning the one-year requirement for 
"real-life experience" that transgender people must fulfill in order to 
receive gender confirmation surgery (also known as sexual reassignment 
surgery)." 

" 'The general theme for my project is to explore the possibilities for 
transformation, to ask the question, Is change really possible, or do 
you get what you're given, and that's it?' Cardenas explains. 'I'm 
asking if it's possible to replace this real-life experience requirement 
with Second Life experience, but I'm also asking a question that is 
somewhat rhetorical or fantastical: Could you really become your 
second-life avatar?' " 



-- 

micha cárdenas
performance / social media / public culture

C(a)lit2 Researcher, http://bang.calit2.net
CRCA Researcher, http://crca.ucsd.edu
MFA Candidate, UCSD, http://visarts.ucsd.edu
MA, EGS, http://egs.edu

blog: http://bang.calit2.net/tts

.