Immanence in the Pixel: Traditional Cultural Origins of Math and Technology
An evening of film video and web screenings curated by Laura U. Marks
Presented Saturday, May 11th at 8 pm

Ratava Teppup dances, disappears, and challenges the media...
Douglas Parsons, Switzerland, 2001, video, 3:30

Two toy warriors meet in virtual space. Taking advantage of the extreme low resolution option of a home video camera, Ratava Teppup transforms the dance of an Indian stick puppet, possibly representing Krishna, into the posturing of an Atari-type video fighter. Ratava Teppup re-sacralizes the word "avatar" by combining its sacred origin with its meaning as a digital figural representation. Magically, the dancer disappears and reappears from the pixel space, a spirit in the machine.


Douglas Parsons - Biography

Born in Würzburg, Germany in 1970, Douglas Parsons holds a B.Sc in architecture and photography from the University of Oregon. He works in photography, installation, and performance, and lives in Lausanne, Switzerland. He invites Ergonauts to collaborate on The Lost Expedition (www.fcca.cz) an international mobile network, featuring a roving laboratory/motorized Ark that gathers and transmits data from innovative and unusual research.

douglasdoregon@hotmail.com