etoy vs. eToys.com
It’s been on more than a few occasions now that the subject of the group, etoy, has come up in class discussion.
If you’re unfamiliar with the group, etoy is a group of digital artists who experiment with the boundaries of art. One of the things they’re best known for is selling shares of “stock” in the etoy.corporation (which can be found here: http://www.etoy.com/).
Based in Switzerland, this group was founded in 1994 when they began their experiments with the selling of their virtual shares.
When a legal battle ensued between eToys.com and etoy, thus began the toywar. eToys.com was sueing etoy for simply having a similar domain name to their own. The toywar performance was constructed on a website which rendered a battlefield with 2000 toy soldiers.
A full explanation and log of the events of the toywar can be found here: http://toywar.etoy.com/
The toywar was the dawning of an e-mail campaign led by Internet activists (specializing in everything from surreal incubations to cultural viruses) who infiltrated the company on every level via the Internet and contested their aggressor. The protest was apparently too much for eToys.com to handle, for they dropped their lawsuit after several weeks.
How can this be considered a form of new media art? Well, this is an example of a group of individuals gathering together across many regions in a virtual environment to stand up against an unjust accusation or wrong-doing and protest to it together, united and unwavering. The protest occurred without most participants even knowing each other — and it succeeded! The participants used their skills to incorporate a new innovational technology to make statement and even get their desired results.
It brings to mind the question of what else can be possible and what results can be reached with the further incorporation of the technology of today into our tasks.
