Digital Steps of Protest, Reenactment, and Networked Interaction

Abstract

Joseph DeLappe is an American digital media artist whose creative work demonstrates unique intersections between analogue and digital creative processes. In 2008 he created the Salt Satyagraha project, a virtual and simultaneously physical reenactment of Mahatma Gandhi's 1930 Salt Satyagraha political march by using Second Life (SL) and a customized treadmill that corresponded to his avatar's movements. The project also included a blog, an exhibition, and numerous screenshots documenting the virtual events. This chapter explores the artist's intent and the impact of combining virtual and digital labor, performance, artistic intervention, play, and the role of the human agent in the human-computer relationship. DeLappe's project blog and two key philosophical theories – Walter Benjamin's concept of the spielraum, a playspace that allows for creative experimentation in advanced technologies; and Jacques Derrida's concept of the supplement, something added to an original that reinforces or changes its meaning – are used to frame this examination.