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(chatlandia)

Julia Meltzer

2000 00:03:00 United StatesEnglishColorStereo4:3Video
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Description

(chatlandia) uses the public bathroom stall as format and metaphor for Internet relay chat lines (IRCs). The video's soundtrack is composed from transcripts of actual IRC sessions; the conversations emerging from this institutional facade speak of lust, intimacy, spunky women, and "what Desiree wants," calling into question the division between humans and machines. In (chatlandia) the larger theme of how the 'net functions as social space is explored and encourages the viewer to ask: Is the Information Age actually bringing us closer together or pushing us farther apart? Is the way we interact physically being transformed by our virtual interactions? Can we be intimate through the plastic interface of the computer and how does the Internet feed this need?

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About Julia Meltzer

Julia Meltzer is a media artist and executive director of Clockshop, a non-profit production company based in Los Angeles. Her works are realized in video, installation, and performance presentations. Her video works include State of Emergency: Inside the L.A.P.D. (with Elizabeth Canner, 30:00,1993), Room Service (15:00, 1994), Conversation Piece (20:00, 1997), and It's not my memory of it (with David Thorne, 25:00, 2003). Installations include <chatlandia> (with Amanda Ramos, 1995-97) and Baggage Claim (1997-98). 

Her work has been exhibited and broadcast at venues including Creative Time's Art in the Anchorage, The New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), Mass MOCA (West Adams, Massachusetts), Forum Stadtpark (Graz, Austria), the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) and on selected PBS television stations.  She has taught video and digital media at Hampshire College and UC Irvine.