Artist in residency at Studio XX in 2001, Tara Bethune-Leamen produced the web art piece Virus Corp, also presented at The HTMlles 5 festival in 2002.
Virus Corp directly addresses the idea of contamination; its existence is based on imposing itself conceptually and visually on chosen sites and ‘contaminating’ them. Recently software has been developed in which websites are ‘grabbed’ and the information within the site is altered according to the user’s wants. Virus Corp‘s program works similarly. The original element is the animation which overlays itself on the site and the ‘destruction’ of said site that it brings with it. Its look of simple eye-candy entices the user into playing with this internet toy; advertently or inadvertently, the user becomes a perpetuator of protest. Although Virus Corp is Web art, the problems it symbolically addresses (corporate, environmental, political, copyright issues) are ever present offscreen.
Archivist’s note:
The exact dates of this residency are unknown.