http://grandtextauto.org/2007/09/27/reskin-hits-a-nerve/ A group blog about computer narrative, games, poetry, and art. Thu, 30 Sep 2010 22:43:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 http://grandtextauto.org/2007/09/27/reskin-hits-a-nerve/comment-page-1/#comment-230363 nick Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:58:32 +0000 http://grandtextauto.org/?p=1592#comment-230363 I just noticed a recent, and very positive, <a href="http://www.hyperrhiz.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=112&Itemid=60" rel="nofollow">review of <i>re:skin</i> in <i>hyperrhiz.</i></a> I just noticed a recent, and very positive, review of re:skin in hyperrhiz.

]]> http://grandtextauto.org/2007/09/27/reskin-hits-a-nerve/comment-page-1/#comment-133618 mary Sat, 06 Oct 2007 12:34:01 +0000 http://grandtextauto.org/?p=1592#comment-133618 celia, the furry story is amazing, and thankfully reason still worked in his case. The question of where the real world skin and the virtual connnect and disconnect has been a subject of writing for a over a decade, and this book does explore issues of embodiment in what I think are novel ways. Beyond the celebratory 90's claims to lose the body, we now know the real body, and even the virtual as you note above, are both subject to cultural norms, social pressures, and markings of race, class, age, and gender, among other categories... This book goes the next step to imaging possible hybrids and interfaces at the complicated intersection of the computational and the physical, including archictecture, medical imaging, animal skin, and issues of interface. The fiction in the book is essential; sometimes it informs us where theory just cannot go. I'd like to thank all of the authors who contributed to the book, and possibly plan a book launch in NYC this autumn. celia, the furry story is amazing, and thankfully reason still worked in his case. The question of where the real world skin and the virtual connnect and disconnect has been a subject of writing for a over a decade, and this book does explore issues of embodiment in what I think are novel ways. Beyond the celebratory 90′s claims to lose the body, we now know the real body, and even the virtual as you note above, are both subject to cultural norms, social pressures, and markings of race, class, age, and gender, among other categories… This book goes the next step to imaging possible hybrids and interfaces at the complicated intersection of the computational and the physical, including archictecture, medical imaging, animal skin, and issues of interface. The fiction in the book is essential; sometimes it informs us where theory just cannot go. I’d like to thank all of the authors who contributed to the book, and possibly plan a book launch in NYC this autumn.

]]> http://grandtextauto.org/2007/09/27/reskin-hits-a-nerve/comment-page-1/#comment-133160 Celia Pearce Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:35:10 +0000 http://grandtextauto.org/?p=1592#comment-133160 Nice review Nick! It's quite fascinating how in spite of all the promises and Utopian ideals of new technology, in some essential ways, we never change. I've noticed this as well in my own work: the core issue of identity/appearance/skin never seem to go away and when people enter into their virtual identities these cultural framings are still at work. A friend recently reported to me that he was asked to leave a lecture in Second Life for presenting as a furry. The lecture was about free speech and censorship. My friend noted to the virtual bouncer the irony of his request and was allowed to stay. In contexts where anything is possible, we still carry our real world skins and their culturally constucted contents with us. Congrats on the book release Mary! These are important issues that all too often get buried in our ecstatic techno-fetishist frenzy. Nice review Nick! It’s quite fascinating how in spite of all the promises and Utopian ideals of new technology, in some essential ways, we never change. I’ve noticed this as well in my own work: the core issue of identity/appearance/skin never seem to go away and when people enter into their virtual identities these cultural framings are still at work. A friend recently reported to me that he was asked to leave a lecture in Second Life for presenting as a furry. The lecture was about free speech and censorship. My friend noted to the virtual bouncer the irony of his request and was allowed to stay. In contexts where anything is possible, we still carry our real world skins and their culturally constucted contents with us. Congrats on the book release Mary! These are important issues that all too often get buried in our ecstatic techno-fetishist frenzy.

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