THE CYBERNAUT
Communicate an aspect of the Internet through performance.
The Cybernaut is an interactive performance piece consisting of a large cardboard booth which invites the audience to interact with it in order to receive 'messages from cyberspace'. When a person clicks the mouse button, the machine will dispense them a sloppily drawn post-it note of 'internet content'.
The performance represents our browsing behaviour on the internet. Often we'll find ourselves spending hours clicking mindlessly on content or refreshing our Facebook and email in order to find one thing which temporarily spikes our dopamine levels and makes us feel good. Much of the internet has been designed to fuel our addiction, even though the content we get back for it is often not very rewarding.
The character of the Cybernaut functions as the faceless online entities we often interact with. While it's me behind the screen operating the machine and dispensing messages, the audience has the feeling they are interacting with an abstract entity. The messages they receive are of little value themselves, but the interaction is designed to give the audience a dopamine spike when they receive them, and makes them want to get more.
