Art Game: Paul Sermon & Charlotte's Gould "Mirror on the Screen" (2012)
"The aim of Sermon and Gould’s current collaborative practice is to critically investigate how online participants in three-dimensional worlds, Second Life in particular, socially interact within innovative creative environments and appropriate these cultural experiences as part of their everyday lives, whilst questioning what is ‘real’ in this relationship. This collaborative practice brings together ethnographic and creative practice-based methods that identify and develop original innovative interactive applications, interface designs and necessary." (Paul Sermon & Charlotte Gould)
"[Mirror on the Screen] allows the Gallery visitor and their ‘second life’ virtual avatar to confront each other and coexist in the same enchanted forest environment in a live interactive public video installation. Simply stand in front of the video screen within the set and use the control keypad arrows to move you avatar around the scene. As you move around and explore this virtual forest scene you will discover that it is not only your Second Life avatar that exists in this space but through surprise encounters your virtual avatar will come face to face with its physical ‘first life’ counterpart" (Paul Sermon & Charlotte Gould)
Previous projects by Paul Sermon and Charlotte Gould include Liberate your Avatar! (2007), Ludic Second Life (2009).
Mirror on the Screen is currently hosted at the Nottingham Playhouse and it will remain visible until October 30 2012.
LINK: Paul Sermon & Charlotte Gould
Submitted by Matteo Bittanti
All images courtesy of the artists