An Anatomy

An Anatomy is based upon the body and time. The body is a metaphor for life, and time is the ever-present fact of the computer. An Anatomy will utilize a time-based engine to drive a networked artificial life-form, of which all visitors are a part. The site may seem to interact with the user instead of the reverse. The time-based interface is changed by time along with the presence of users, and therefore shifts in appearance from moment to moment. This life-form is connected to the idea of human anatomical structure in text and navigation. While coexisting in this life-space, the story of the life-form is built. Sound, animation, and user input coalesce, and user presence becomes part of what the life-form needs to survive. The longer one stays, the more one visits and is interacted with, the more one learns about the life-form's structure. Time is everywhere--unseen, but felt. There is a beginning, but no end--only time. An Anatomy gives visual representation to the passage of time, and leaves the viewer in his or her intimate space, staring at the screen, to ponder it. The goal is to build in his or her mind the picture of this life built by the network feeding on the network. This piece functions as a memento mori, a myth, a dream, a vision.

First published by Gallery 9/Walker Art Center, February 2000.