Antoinette LaFarge
Encyclopedia
Antoinette LaFarge is a new media artist
and writer known for her work with mixed-reality performance and projects exploring the conjunction of visual art and fiction.
era. Initially, the Plaintext Players performed solely in text-based virtual environments such as MOOs
, creating directed improvisations for both online audiences and visitors in real spaces, where the performances were viewed as projections. More recently, they have worked with LaFarge and her longtime primary collaborator, theater director Robert Allen, on several mixed-reality
performance works, including 'The Roman Forum' (2000), 'The Roman Forum Project' (2003), and 'Demotic' (2004/2006). The Plaintext Players have included as members such new media artists as Ursula Endlicher, Marlena Corcoran, and Adrienne Wortzel, and their experiments in cyberformance
have been hosted internationally by venues ranging from art galleries to the European Media Arts Festival, documenta, and the Venice Biennale.
LaFarge has created or collaborated on other technologically complex, media-rich performance works and installations, including 'Reading Frankenstein' (2003), 'Playing the Rapture' (2008), and 'Hangmen Also Die' (2010). A recurrent theme in these works is the struggle of individuals to come to terms with the nexus of history, politics, mythmaking, and media.
LaFarge also co-curated two very early U.S. exhibitions showcasing computer games: the 2000 show 'SHIFT-CTRL: Computers, Games, and Art' and 2004's 'ALT+CTRL: A Festival of Independent and Alternative Games'. Both were produced by the Beall Center for Art + Technology at the University of California, Irvine
, where LaFarge currently holds the position of Professor of Digital Media in the Department of Studio Art.
LaFarge's writing ranges from essays on new media and a genre she terms "fictive art" to performance scripts and fiction, including 'Cylex,' a work of speculative fiction that appeared in Wired magazine. LaFarge is an Associate of the Institute of Cultural Inquiry
, a Los-Angeles-based nonprofit, for which she has designed several books, including the 2007 anthology Searching for Sebald: Photography After W.G. Sebald.
New media art
New media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
and writer known for her work with mixed-reality performance and projects exploring the conjunction of visual art and fiction.
Biography
LaFarge received her M.F.A. degree in Computer Art from the School of Visual Art, New York, in 1995, and her undergraduate degree from Harvard University. She is the great-great-granddaughter of American artist John La Farge.Work
In 1994, LaFarge founded the Plaintext Players, an internet performance group that began creating original pieces early in the WebWorld Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
era. Initially, the Plaintext Players performed solely in text-based virtual environments such as MOOs
MOO
A MOO is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time.The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses...
, creating directed improvisations for both online audiences and visitors in real spaces, where the performances were viewed as projections. More recently, they have worked with LaFarge and her longtime primary collaborator, theater director Robert Allen, on several mixed-reality
Mixed reality
Mixed reality refers to the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualisations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time...
performance works, including 'The Roman Forum' (2000), 'The Roman Forum Project' (2003), and 'Demotic' (2004/2006). The Plaintext Players have included as members such new media artists as Ursula Endlicher, Marlena Corcoran, and Adrienne Wortzel, and their experiments in cyberformance
Cyberformance
Cyberformance refers to live theatrical performances in which remote participants are enabled to work together in real time through the medium of the internet, employing technologies such as chat applications or purpose-built, multiuser, real-time collaborative software such as UpStage...
have been hosted internationally by venues ranging from art galleries to the European Media Arts Festival, documenta, and the Venice Biennale.
LaFarge has created or collaborated on other technologically complex, media-rich performance works and installations, including 'Reading Frankenstein' (2003), 'Playing the Rapture' (2008), and 'Hangmen Also Die' (2010). A recurrent theme in these works is the struggle of individuals to come to terms with the nexus of history, politics, mythmaking, and media.
LaFarge also co-curated two very early U.S. exhibitions showcasing computer games: the 2000 show 'SHIFT-CTRL: Computers, Games, and Art' and 2004's 'ALT+CTRL: A Festival of Independent and Alternative Games'. Both were produced by the Beall Center for Art + Technology at the University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
, where LaFarge currently holds the position of Professor of Digital Media in the Department of Studio Art.
LaFarge's writing ranges from essays on new media and a genre she terms "fictive art" to performance scripts and fiction, including 'Cylex,' a work of speculative fiction that appeared in Wired magazine. LaFarge is an Associate of the Institute of Cultural Inquiry
Institute of Cultural Inquiry
The Institute of Cultural Inquiry is a non-profit organization located in Los Angeles, California. The ICI states that its mission is "to educate the public about the visual methods used in society to describe and discuss cultural phenomena." The ICI sponsors art projects, performances,...
, a Los-Angeles-based nonprofit, for which she has designed several books, including the 2007 anthology Searching for Sebald: Photography After W.G. Sebald.