Habituation Cages
Paul Wong, Nina Wakeford, Sara Diamond/Code Zebra, 2003
24hr performance collaboration

See Nina Wakeford inhabit the “Habituation Cage” with video artist Paul Wong, for 24 hours straight, as part of the launch of Code Zebra at the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival (DEAF ’03).

“We are both here because of Sara Diamond’s software, CodeZebra. We are in a lab and we are test guinea pigs.” Wakeford comments on the surveillance, “We are both sitting in this wonderful apartment but at the same time everyone can see us. We might want to think about who is watching who.” Wong grounds it into the everyday,” At the same time…we have to eat, shit.”
–CodeZebra Habituation Cages – Sara Diamond, 2003

CodeZebra includes performances, conferences, events, responsive fashion design and video. There are intensive, “habitution cages” where locked up artists and scientists live together, debate, and invent with support from CodeZebra. CodeZebra is a collaborative project led by Sara Diamond. CodeZebra draws upon debates about the relationship between art and science, and the behaviors and characteristics of inhabitants of those disciplines, to create a series of provocations. CodeZebra includes spoken word and dance performances, club nights, games, workshops, and software development. In 2003 Diamond locked up pairs of artists and scientists in Habituation Cages for 24-hour periods and asked them to discover new inventions, art works and concepts while real time video streams, documentary footage and online chats captured their every move. Such events and processes, captured in DVD form and on the CodeZebra website, are the core of this exhibition. CodeZebra OS software uses data visualization to provide an analysis of the dialogue and conversation taking place on the Internet. CodeZebra’s array of responsive garments and costumes bring communication, display and social camouflage back to the site of the body.

Distributor: CodeZebra