An ongoing Research and Networking Project by Andrea Sodomka and Eva Ursprung

In May 2007, Andrea Sodomka and Eva Ursprung started their investigation on „Machine Divas“ – woman artists using technology for their work in nowadays expanded „theater space“. The first results were presented at the IMA Salon #7 07 at ars electronica and put forward for discussion on a panel with Inke Arns, Kathy Rae Huffman and Eva Wohlgemuth.

This panel has been starting point and inspiration for further lines of ideas and activities. Ideas and intentions include the creation of a pool of information on woman artists using technology for their work in an expanded concept of „theater“, as well as a prospective exhibition.
A reflection on the term „Machine Diva“ draws questions on self-definition and the possibility of something like a shared identity.

In July 2009 the second Salon, which is dedicated to the research and investigation by artists who, in the broadest sense, concern themselves with ideas of the “machine theater” took place at the Kunstraum Niederösterreich in Vienna. Cyberspace therefore becomes an extension of the classical theater, acting as a stage where women increasingly stage themselves, instead of being staged by others.

The theater space that is created using contemporary technologies enables the fusion of various playing levels and establishes new networking options for players by means of the Web. The media artist, New Zealander Helen Varley Jamieson, uses synergies that develop fromt this dynamic networking by using the Internet as playable space, which she uses as a stage for her “Cyberperfomances”. In her Desktop Theater Worklab, the participants program their own performance using simple tools, a performance thtat allows players to participate even from a distance. Ironically, imaginatively and subversively, the real-time performances welcome the configuration and shaping of medial space.