The Famous Internet Artist: Eva is a work of digital flux persona. In many respects, we are all famous Internet artists. Technology has made it possible to develop digital personas that live within an alternate reality. This newfound space provides the opportunity to conceive, craft, and edit endless versions of the self. With each passing day, we add additional paragraphs to our digital biographies and the chapters of our lives unfold in front of anyone with access to a search engine. Indeed. we have all reached a new level of notoriety, fame, and digital agency.
Nonetheless, there is a by-product embedded within this technological excess. The boundary between truth and fiction has grown increasingly nebulous. In addition to crafting personal identities, Internet users are persuaded to socialize with an infinite population of fluctuating personas. These interactions are typically viewed as superfluous. However, they also allude to the continuous transformation of our anthropological sense of identity.
The Famous Internet Artist: Eva is a work of e-literature documenting multiple interactions between the artist alias Tony Jones and an entity of unknown origins. The work examines the demarcation between flux persona and faux persona. As both aliases communicate with each other, the margins between fiction and reality are continuously blurred. Tony, authored by Paul Echeverria, offers the promise of collaboration, fame, and creative expression. The anonymous spammers, authored by multiple personas, seek friendship, love, and travel funds. Obfuscated beneath each character’s attempts at persuasion, the messages provide insight into the casual materialization of the digital flux persona. As a consequence, readers are encouraged to consider the authenticity of their own relations within a complex panorama of digital identity.
EXHIBITION
(un)continuity
Electronic Literature Organization (ELO)
Conference + Media Arts Festival
Virtual Edition, 2020
