Stephanie Rothenberg

Bio

Stephanie Rothenberg is an artist and educator using performance, installation and networked media to create provocative interactions that question the boundaries and social constructs of manufactured desires. She has lectured and exhibited at venues including the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, International Symposium of Electronic Arts (ISEA), Zer01 Festival, Banff New Media Institute, Hallwalls Media Art Center, ConFlux Festival, Amsterdam International Film Festival and the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing. Recent awards include a 2009 Creative Capital, 2008 New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist award (NYSCA), a 2007 Eyebeam Artist-in-Residence in NYC and a free103point9 Artist-in-Residence. She received her MFA in 2003 from The Department of Film, Video and New Media at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently Assistant Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY Buffalo.

Abstract

Invisible Threads

Stephanie Rothenberg will present the project “Invisible Threads” co-created with Jeff Crouse. The mixed reality performance-installation explores the growing intersection between labor, emerging virtual economies and real life commodities through the creation of a designer jeans “sweatshop” in Second Life that manufacturers real world, wearable jeans on-demand.

Using a just-in-time production process, customers in the real world are able to purchase their jeans directly from the manufacturer, Double Happiness. A microphone and web cam connected to a computer creates a live stream of customer orders into the virtual factory. The webcam stream, projected inside the factory enables SL workers to see each customer and hear their order. On the assembly line, the first worker starts the production process that involves loading cotton bales into the Jaquard loom. Once the fabric is made it moves down the assembly line through each machine. Each worker stationed at a machine is responsible for selecting the correct option based on the customer’s order, men’s or women’s size for example. At the end of the production process, the jeans go through the SL to real life “portal” resulting in an output from a large format printer. Customers watch their jean orders being produced in real time in the factory via a computer projection in the physical space. Once in the real world, the jeans made from cotton canvas require simple assembly before being worn.