Cruisin'

Susan Collins' new piece, Cruisin' is the fourth work commissioned for the web-based arts project Container-ship. Building upon her internet piece In Conversation, Collins' project Cruisin' further explores issues of interaction in digital space. Choosing to view the commission as a site-specific project, Collins has collaborated with the programmer Michiel Dethmers to inhabit Container-ship with a roaming chat-space.

On entering this space, one encounters both other visitors and an on-board cast of four 'intelligent' programmed characters. These characters ask and respond to questions, generally engaging the visitor in idle chat fuelled by the tedium of the mid-ocean. Ultimately, it is unclear who is real and who is digital. Through its addictive nature, Cruisin' examines our need for human interaction and how in cyber-space, we sometimes require little to satisfy this need. The premiere launch of Cruisin' will be held at the 291 Gallery with a 40-foot-high interactive projection of the live website. Container-ship: Treating the Internet as simply another space, Container-ship commissions work specifically for this new realm. The website uses the unifying metaphor of a cargo boat or container-ship, collecting containers in a rolling programme of curation. Currently on the ship are projects by Geraint Evans, David Lilley, Brighid Lowe, Gill Ord and Simon Faithfull - the next two projects currently in production are by Anna Best and Janice Kerbel. Since its launch in March 98, Container-ship has been exhibited in the Whitechapel Open, the Pandaemonium festival at London Electronic Arts and will be presented at the ICA on 26th October. Container-ship is curated by Simon Faithfull and produced by Peter Moore for the digital production group e-2.