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BRIDGE KIDS: THE TECHNOLOGICAL REINCARNATION OF JULIA DENZIG GEOFFREY PUGEN A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF FINE ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN FILM YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO JANUARY2010 Library and Archives Bibliothéque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de Tédition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Yourfile Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-62430-2 Ourfile Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-62430-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- Uauteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant å la Bibliothéque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Nnternet, préter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and seil theses monde, å des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege ætte thése. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thése ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent étre imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément å la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thése. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Abstract "A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid ofmachine and organism, a creature ofsocial reality as well as a creature of fiction." -Donna Haraway In this age of ubiquitous cyborgs, avatars and virtual personås, artists are returning to science fiction metaphors, the hyper-real and the absurd to investigate the impact of technology and the virtual on the human body and environment. Are we headed for a technocratic future, filled with bureaucracy and endless virtual information? Or could our development with technology result in a mutualism, forming a stronger union with the natural, the spiritual and the supernatural? This media project is a meditation on this complex terrain, a portal through which to explore the tension between science ('the real') and the imaginary ('the virtual'). Bridge Kids is a 16min single channel video work that connects a research documentary on the history of ESP, a fictional dramatic televisjon series, and a science fiction drama portraying an adolescenfs technological reincarnation. A meditation and absurd collage of media, found footage and staged drama juxtaposing complex human relations with ESP, iv pedagogy, instability and sci-fi cliché creates a fragmented narrative of two kids' escape from networks and institution. The video metaphorically depicts humans interfacing with technology, the virtual, creating a psychic space. v Table of Contents Abstract 2 Synopsis 4 Background 5 Indigo Children 8 Creativity & Pedagogy 10 Autism & Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd) 12 Technology, Intuition and Art 14 Simulation and pataphor/pataphysics in digital media 17 Artistic Process 20 Creative Treatment and Artistic Techniques 37 Works Cited 43 Bibliography (Selected Readings) 46 vi Synopsis A gifted youth, Kent, is sent away to a private 'special' school. There she makes a psychic connection with one of the students, Kathy. After sharing thoughts they decide to escape. Kathy shows Kent her secret tree house devoted to her avatar Julia Denzig. She hopes to gain further understanding by revealing her deepest secrets to Kent. Through this exchange a technological reincarnation unfolds. 1 Background Throughout my childhood I was a highly competitive tennis player. By the time I was 19-years old I competed at an international level, playing tennis four to five hours a day. As I completed my undergraduate degree, my interests moved towards the arts and video-making, and ultimately quit competitive tennis. However, this "gaming mentality" continued to influence my thought processes in my daily life; I feel the need to compete and win in everyday situations as well as in personal relationships. My own difficulties separating the game from real life has inspired me to explore the influences of today's culture on adolescents - virtual gaming, television dramas, and our hyper mediated history. There is no real, there is no imaginary except at a certain distance. What happens when this distance, including that between the real and the imaginary, tends to abolish itself, to be reabsorbed on behalf of the model? Well, from one order of simulacra to another, the tendency is certainly toward the reabsorption of this distance, of this gap that leaves room for an ideal or critical projection. (1) The digital realm of the Internet is the institution on which much of the world's population is building its meaning of the 'real'. In what Baudrillard calls 'the model' is what I interpret as a 'pataphor' for the current state of the Internet. The ever increasing integration of technologies into the education system, 2 medical industry and office/ work place will make it progressively more difficult for people to make a distinction between the simulated and what was formerly understood as the real. Television networks like Fox news uses imagery from different time periods or locations and broadcasts them as immediate news as if it were real. The widening approval of mood-altering drugs, from Ritalin to Zoloft, has made a pharmaceutical induced high the normal state of mind for millions of people. It is not at all abnormal for a person to relax on Ativan and interact with the rest of the world mainly through social networking communication (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln) People can sustain these active imaginary social lives by håving '2nd lives' on the Internet and simulated virtual sex. "There is no longer one absolute reality, but the possibility of multiple realities, each one as "real" or as artificial as the others." (2) The boundaries between 'natural' and 'artificial' have not only become blurred but are a part for our identity. Computer technology works increasingly with organic substances, which are inserted into electronic devices, for example as 'biosensors.' In 1994 the American Leo Adelmann developed the first DNA computer which, using amino acid sequences of genes, can solve certain types of mathematical problems faster than any conventional computer. Nature thus becomes artificial and technical, while technology becomes alive. The direct connection of life and technical construction, once a fantasy of science fiction films with their cyborgs, has become reality. (3) 3 My experience is that the human body, when connected to a system of virtual information, tends to shut down. Our senses are no longer aware of the exterior world, "unlike Cinema, in which the audience sits in a darkened theatre, their bodies grounded in the physical world, and watches flickering projections of light on a screen..." (4) Thus in Cinema our senses are experiencing a form of simulation in the real. Where in the virtual our senses are enclosed in a simulacrum allowing ourselves to become a projection of how we want to see ourselves. This digital age has given humans the ability to extend and modify their identity via cyberspace. To "make oneself a body without organs," then, is to actively experiment with oneself to draw out and activate these virtual potentials. These potentials are mostly activated (or "actualized") through conjunctions with other bodies (or BwOs) that Deleuze calls "becomings." (5) Bridge Kids metaphorically examines how the virtual affects us psychologically and emotionally. Recent phenomena of more rapidly disseminated images and information have radically changed human behavior. Bridge Kids explores possibilities of how human life and virtual life have begun to morph into a new breed of more 'psychic' beings. In Bridge Kids, constantly moving between the world of the 'real' and the 'virtual' effects the childrens' conciousness', creating disturbing and fantastic supernatural 4 experiences. Indigo Children Bridge Kids is partly inspired by a new-age theory developed by Nancy Tappe called Indigo Children. The concept allegedly claims that some children are the next step in human evolution, possessing paranormal abilities such as telepathy, to the extent that they are simply more compassionate, artistic, and psychic than their non-indigo peers. Some Indigo traits are: high IQ, confidence, and resisting authority. Despite zero scientific studies to support this theory, many parents believe their child to be 'INDIGO', when diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism. Parents who subscribe to this alternative diagnosis are told to change théir child's treatment and pedagogy to achieve balance and harmony in their lives. "The Indigo Child is a boy or girl who displays a new and unusual set of psychological attributes, revealing a pattern of behavior generally undocumented before. This pattern has singularly unique factors that call for parents and teachers to change their treatment and upbringing of these kids to assist them in achieving balance and harmony in their lives, and to help them avoid frustration." - Lee Carrol 5 There are, however, more skeptics than supporters. "All of us would prefer not to have our kids labeled with a psychiatric disorder, but in this case it's a sham diagnosis," said Russell Barkley, a research professor of psychiatry.