Virtufauna is a visualisation of the cyborgian body and its allegorical evolution into new hyper-connected lifeforms within virtual/communicative space. There is a focus here on interweaving the inherently biological nature of the human with its own extensions of identity and interaction into the digital.
The character of the 'Virtufauna', a creature that exists in the boundary between organic and technological, was brought to life in two live performances at Testing Grounds. The first took place during a social event, the Virtufauna roaming the site and mimicking visitors movements while also filming and streaming their reactions through Instagram Live. The viewer sees themselves embodied as the physical performance and in the livestream, their social performances being transmitted to other viewers both on-site and online via the Virtufauna.
The second performance allowed a further level of interaction with virtual space. A series of QR codes appear on a screen and can be scanned with a smartphone camera, each linking to a different downloadable image of an ambiguous organic form and a short poem. In this act, the Virtufauna's offspring are kept within the viewer's own device and can potentially be shared online to spread organically. As the viewer scans the QR codes with their phones, I sit and watch passively as a biological extension of the technology.
Virtufauna, video documentation of interactive live performance (12 minutes 45 seconds), 2018
Virtufauna:Integrate, video installation, costumed performance and downloadable images, 2018
Freeroam, digital image, 2018
Virtufauna portrait I, digital image, 2018
Evolution I, digital image, 2018
Forming Fauna, digital image, 2018