“Portrait Virus” by Wright

This multimedia performance work was created by new-media art historian Patric Prince and a small group of artists, and presented at CyberArts 3 in Pasadena, California in 1992. Michael Wright’s video-captured, Amiga-processed portraits were passed along to artists Randy Oliver, Paras Kaul, and Barbara Mons, who each manipulated the portraits and the process. The end product was returned and projected at the site of origin. The artist intervened as a virus infecting pure digital information. The work was historic in its use of video, Amigas, Macs, and PCs communicating across platforms over a young internet.