note 193

My emphasis on a good local show in every place that is connected appeared to be very handy for the occasions that technology breaks down. In 1997, we did the Brandon project with the artist Shu Lea Cheang. The Brandon project concerned transgender issues and rape in cyberspace. How liable are people? Can cyber acts become part of jurisprudence? Those were the questions that She Lea Cheang raised with her project. It was the first project that the virtual Guggenheim Museum in New York acquired. For the launch we connected via a very elaborate interface between the Guggenheim Soho and the Theatrum Anatomicum in the Waag building in Amsterdam. We were supposed to share a debate. Five minutes before the show started everything worked. All participants of the debate were ready to go and then the interface collapsed. Later we found out that the license had run out and even when you pay directly with a credit card it takes another 24 hours before the license is renewed. We still had a very interesting debate about transgender situations and liabilities in cyberspace in Amsterdam locally as well as in New York, but we just did not connect during these debates.