Coded Characters

Since 1975, the experimental work of the Australian-born artist Jill Scott has evolved from making surveillance-performance events to video art, and then onto new computer art and interactive cinema. Amply illustrated, Coded Characters covers 28 years of the dynamic development of her work. Here, the mediation and role of the audience, as well as the mythical representation of the human body on both stage and screen, are constantly questioned. Her work has led to a new, much broader concept of the human body, regarding it as both an interface and a player in the evolving zones of tech-space as well as physical reality. Containing reflective essays and interviews by leading theorists from these countries, as well as Jill Scott's original notes about the works and their related technologies, the book carries the reader through three chapters and continents: Analog Figures, USA, 1975-1982, Digital Beings, Downunder, 1982-1992 and Mediated Nomads, Europe, 1992-2002. Through the use of various media these concepts grow from dualistic conceptual statements to pluralistic associations and on to complex social and historical paradigms with layered meanings. Throughout this evolutionary process, virtual, artificial and mechanical metaphors have arisen, which turn the experience of Coded Characters into a challenging adventure.