Visit the avatars by clicking here: http://girlfriend.mediamatic.net
Available every Wed, Thu & Fri from 8 until 11 pm (CET).
Martin Butler presents four human avatars to play with. Log in at home with your character of choice. Direct the avatar, explore the space and challenge him or her.
The avatars can also be observed live in their Analog Villa on Wed, Thu & Fri from 18.00 - 23.00. You can also DINE with the avatars. Their favorite food: DIY SUSHI, a concept of Debra Solomon/culiblog.org. Every evening also Flashy workshops: make your own sock puppet and discover you non-verbal flirtings skills. For information & reservations call 061 691 1261.
The rampant growth of online avatar communities such as Second Life and World of Warcraft has enabled the creation of a personal online social and economic existence. Simultaneously this triggers inherent questions about this existence, as it questions what the consequences will be for first life, or reality.
When you use virtual avatars you can do as you please. In The Girlfriend Experience you will have to get to know each other first. Player and avatar explore what they can do for each other and how far the avatar wants to go to execute specific desires. It is ambiguous who is really controlling the situation. You have ten minutes to figure out what you can do with your avatar. After that, your time is up and another player can take your place.
The title of the project, The Girlfriend Experience, denotes the paradoxical character that online social interaction has. On one hand, the safe anonymity by using the avatar, on the other the intimate releases and projections that can spread easily. For Martin Butler is this the merging of two apparent extremes, anonymity and intimacy, which characterizes an important part of contemporary social traffic. The best paid prostitutes are the ones with whom the client feels as though he is with his girlfriend, or with whom he has a Girlfriend Experience.
This exhibition is made possible with the support of the Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, the Thuiskopie Fonds, and the Liminal Institute.
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