<nettime> Will the Real Mez Please Stand Up??

["mezflesque.exe" <mezandwalt@wollongong.starway.net.au>]

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Will the Real Mez Please Stand Up??…the net.Art & Cybertimes of mezflesque.exe

Mez is an professional artist that has been working via the Internet for
approximately 5 years. She creates works that integrate text and images
primarily in a way that breaks down and reconstructs the narrative;
there's no simple storylines or easy explanations/meanings in these online
creations. The name "mez" is also a bit challenging in relation to her
actual real-life persona, as several of her net.art pieces aren't credited
to her as such, but have various author titles attached - mz post
modemism, mezchine, ms Tech.no.whore, flesque, e-mauler, and
mezflesque.exe (her latest incarnation). Ask the net.artist mez about her
real (birth) name and listen attentively through the gagging noises that
emanate from her throat.  You might hear an intelligible answer, but I
doubt it. This isn't because she's got some exotic speech impediment or
strange form of throat disorder.  It's all down to the fact that since
1995 she's been changing her author name almost as frequently as her
hairstyle. And this frequent name-changing behavior is somehow
inextricably caught up in her extensive net.art creations. I'd guesstimate
that her alias swapping has occurred about 8 times in the last 4 years.
Better yet, I'll just ask just her. 


                                         
NDP: I wanted to ask you about your net.art practice, in relation to your
use of different personas/avatars. Why the hell do you change your name on
an net.artwork? It's all the same you, right? 

Mez: Well, in a sense it's all the same me, as in I'm the one that
primarily puts in the long hours and creates the artworks. But in a way
it's not the "real" me, as when I adopt a name it's for a specific reason. 
For example, my first alias was Passé Parvenu (meaning "old upstart") and
this choice was governed by the way I wanted the work perceived by a
larger audience; I kept it gender-nonspecific and conceptually geared so
people would actually have no pre-conceptions of the work they were about
to see.  This follows through in most of my net.art practice, and those in
the viewing audience who are more attentive towards my work get subtle
rewards - if they mentally add up that if I used the name "mz post
modemism" on a work, then I'm obviously trying to take the piss out of the
drive to create the next big thing [after post-modernism] and punning on
the fact that I'm trying to experiment around and inject some humor into
the whole art scene.  They're rewarded through gleaning meaning cues that
extend from the avatar names into the work itself - if they get this humor
angle from the name alone, then they might begin to realize that the
artwork should be viewed in a similar light.  Also, the use of aliases
reflect that I'm getting ideas and cues from a multitude of sources, all
to do with the fact that I create and show these works in an online
environment. Several of my works are collaborative, but even if there
isn't any other artist directly contributing to the work, I am influenced
so much by heaps of online activity - online chats, regular email
dialogues, even online gaming - and this gives me the freedom to play
around with the artwork that I create, mesh these elements and have fun
with them at the same time.

NDP: So this use of avatars/multiple names reflects this experimentation? 

Mez: Yup, but my use of language reflects this more. 

NDP: How exactly?

Mez: Well if I knew that then I'd probably be producing trite theme-driven
artwork that was boring as all shite. Seriously though, I have several
different types of net.art that I create, and one is devoted almost
exclusively to the de/reconstruction of language. I call this
"mezangelleing". 

NDP: That sounds painful.

Mez: No, not especially, though it can be for some of the people that are
too fixed in their perceptions to have a go at reading it. I get lot of
abusive mails from people saying "Just speak plain English will ya!!".
I'll give you a simple example of what I mean. If I create a typical
narrative writing piece I'll alter it so it doesn't read as straight prose
but reads as hypertext in plain text - for example, I'll take a line from
my latest mezangelle piece "Sk.eye Scrrr[l]atchez" . Actually, explaining
the title will do just as well. The writing piece was constructed
specifically to send out onto several mailing lists, almost as a email
performance piece, and the title went into the subject line of the group
email. Because I already new that with an audience a little over 10
thousand (at a conservative estimate) not everyone would be keen to
receive an artwork via their email, so I decided to hardwire this
knowledge into the title itself.  So the title morphed from "Sky
Scratches" into "Sk.eye Scrrr[l]atchez" in order to indicate firstly, that
the piece would require multiple readings as the word "scratches"
associates with "latches" meaning in a hinge, or a catch is needed into
the work itself (as my stuff can be very complicated, or not, depending
how much effort a reader/audience member is prepared to put in).  Are you
following? 

NDP: Just. Can you explain it a bit more?

Mez: It's like when you read a novel, all these sparks and word
associations go off in your head, right? Well in my mezangelled texts,
these associations and ideas are alluded to in the text itself….I might
write "Eye c" instead of "I see", playing around with the idea of vision
and the direction of meanings, and at the same time emulating the
abbreviation style employed on many chat channels, like "R U there"?  A
reader may have to read it a few times to get it, but even if they don't
grasp the meaning I intend, hopefully they'll come up with their own
specific cues and byways into the work. I make it specifically in order
for this to happen. 

NDP: Right. So how long have you been creating work like this online? Do
you plan to continue doing so?

Mez: For approximately 5 years. I started off contributing to an
experimental webspace at Wollongong University, and nowadays am exhibiting
all over the world - from having digital prints in SIGGRAPH in Los
Angeles, to online exhibitions in Tokyo and Europe. And you betcha I plan
to keep it up, I'm just reaching my peak ( we'll at least I like to think
so). If you're really keen to see my stuff, have a look at my online work
at http://wollongong.starway.net.au/~mezandwalt. And remember, I always
appreciate feedback. 

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[first printed in "StreetPress", 1999]



+IF fle.shh! = sub.stance of n anim[us].all body//sur.face of the body 
+       [lectric__bone______ crust_______ &_________ hardware________ bitten] 
+THEN *.esque = n-dicating style, manner, or dis[funct]tinc.tive
charact[.h]er 
+                       _____________________________________ 
+wollongong.starway.net.au/~mezandwalt <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<[flesque is born] 

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