45 letters to Magnussons before the spring...

magnussons.jpg

author

Annabel Castro

date

2007

format

html

genre

internet

project description

With analogies to spam, Annabel Castro Meagher questions the use of public data for intrusions into private realms by collecting names and addresses of random individuals extracted from the web, and using the data to contact them privately with intimate, hand-written letters. The communication is then presented on a website – returning the physical documentation to the virtual sphere. On the website, Meagher enters the names of each person contacted, the date a letter was mailed to them, and summary of the letter. With a click, viewers are able to see photographs of the letters before they were posted, a map of the receiver’s home, and an aerial view of the location. The recipients entered the communication 'contract' by opening the envelopes they received, and by visiting the web address mailed to them a year later. Using a physical, personal and perhaps obsolete medium, Meagher connects the virtual stream of information to real space and people. The work questions the uses of our virtual designations, who has power over those designations, and how such designations define us in the real world.

artist bio

Castro is Mexican artist working with digital media. She has an MFA and an MSc in Art and Technology. She is Professor at the Computer Center of the National University of Mexico. Her work has been shown at “Transmediale 08” Berlin, "Video as an urban condition" in London, "Art Tech Media 06" at the National Museum Art Center Queen Sofia in Madrid, "Tokyo Style in Gothenburg" at Röda Sten in Sweden and "04 Chopo" at the University Museum Chopo in Mexico City among other venues.