Digital Steps of Protest, Reenactment, and Networked Interaction: Joseph DeLappe's Salt Satyagraha Project

Background

To better understand DeLappe’s approach to realizing the Salt Satyagraha project, I draw on emerging ideas about the role and pragmatic nature of digital art and more specifically consider two theories concerning the potential and character of the human-technology relationship. Walter Benjamin’s concept of the spielraum, or playspace – the byproduct or outcome of what he referred to as second technology – assists this analysis with gauging the potential for play in the digitally fabricated, networked environment of SL. Jacques Derrida’s discussion of the supplement as a device that achieves ancillary experiences or modifies what might be understood as “natural” addresses the hybrid nature of networked communication and the detached connection it fosters. Reenactment by way of an avatar, or virtual body, is addressed first through an analysis of the multiple meanings behind the term itself; and second through a brief comparison to another major SL reenactment project by artist duo Eva and Franco Mattes. Finally, my analysis of DeLappe’s project relies on his written accounts on his blog of his experiences in SL during the Salt Satyagraha project, and my own experiences observing his reenactment on two occasions at the New York City-based gallery where the work was generated and completed.