Lullaby for a Dead Fly
Lullaby for a Dead Fly (Lullaby) is an artwork by artist Mouchette as part of the website Mouchette.org. The web page displays text streamed from the page How can I write this since I'm dead?, archiving countless comments written by viewers who have killed Mouchette on the Dead Fly web page and left a last message. This piece shows the viewers what the artist's murderers have to say about killing her.
"How shall I be reading all these messages if I'm dead? Please read them for me." - Mouchette[1]
Subject Matter
As with Mouchette's other web pages, the subject matter of Lullaby revolves around death. The artist's other work, Dead Fly, is directly connected with this piece as said fly, claiming to be Mouchette herself, is killed by the click of a button[2]. Somber music is played on the web page as comment after comment scrolls across the screen. This work calls viewers to think about what a simple action on the internet can do; in this case, killing the artist[3].
Artist Collaboration
Lullaby is a collaborative artwork between the artist Mouchette and the surfers of the net who have contributed to the forums from Dead Fly[4]. This calls the viewers to think about the issues and possibilities that the net can provide, as anyone can be an artist (or a murderer) this way.
Technical Information of Execution
The program for the endless stream was created by Marc Boon, programmer and internet artist, as credited at the bottom-right link of Lullaby. Marc Boon was also the programmer for the entire database system behind Mouchette.org between 1998-2001[5].
References
- ↑ http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-bold-0012/msg00036.html
- ↑ https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/download/attachments/71158625/cyberfems-spreads.pdf
- ↑ http://www.digitalarti.com/en/video/wj_spots1_42_martine_neddam_aka_mouchette
- ↑ http://www.digitalarti.com/en/video/wj_spots1_42_martine_neddam_aka_mouchette
- ↑ http://about.mouchette.org/marcboon-com/
Author
Kathy Li