Description (in English)
“Cicatrix” is collected video from recent performances and experimentation, in Second Life, at Eyebeam, and at various other venues.
“Cicatrix” refers to scar tissue, and for his installation Eyebeam Resident Alan Sondheim juxtaposes early radio equipment with contemporary models of virtual avatars to meditate on virtuality as it relates to distortion, pain, and death. In a reflection on the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, Alan comments how in Second Life pain physically cannot occur, but therefore it also cannot be stopped. The avatars he creates, both through digital texture mapping and 3D printing, capture distorted bodies in moments of unnatural pain.