View “My Life in Three Parts”.

“My Life in Three Parts” addresses the question of how personal identity is influenced by the language of the web. Our online interactions are often circumscribed by tracking software and various social networks. As a result, our identities–how we view ourselves and how others view us–are shaped and expressed, in part, by personal browsing practices and the vocabulary associated with those practices.

So what do our autobiographies look like in this new world? To answer this question, “My Life in Three Parts” ignores the conventions of traditional autobiography in favor of oblique readings of iconic visual symbols, terminology, and concepts found online within the private and social web-spaces of shopping, art, and mathematics.

This work uses text, images, audio, and videos to create a synthesized narrative of the self. Nothing about personal identity is clear in this work: the life behind the story is only implied.

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About the Author:

Alan Bigelow was the 2011 winner of the BIPVAL international Prix de Poésie Média. His work, installations, and conversations concerning digital fiction and poetry have appeared in Turbulence.org, Rhizome.org, SFMOMA, Los Angeles Center for Digital Arts, 14th Japan Media Arts Festival (The National Art Center, Tokyo), MLA 2012-2013, FAD, VAD, FreeWaves.org, The Museum of New Art (MONA, Detroit), Art Tech Media 2010, FILE 2007-2012, Blackbird, Drunken Boat, IDEAS, New River Journal, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, and elsewhere.
You can see Alan Bigelow’s work at http://www.webyarns.com.

Photo By: Colton Witt