Identity Swap
Saint Mary's College of Maryland, Fall 2006

Inspired by the use of persona by artists such as Nikki S. Lee, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, internet art projects like Darko Maver and Black People Love Us!, and recent cyberworld phenomena such as the Seattle Craigslist sex scandal, LonelyGirl15, and commercial fakesters on popular sites like MySpace, class members were asked to create a false identity in response to a national or international news item from the past month. The character’s personality was developed off-line. Then each student created a storyboard, planning a loose structure for the events they intended to carry out for each of the 7 days of the project’s duration. Stories adapted and evolved in reaction to unexpected events and interactions with other people on-line.