Mouchette.org
 The mouchette.org homepage | |
Type of site | Internet art |
|---|---|
| Available in | English/French |
| Owner | Martine Neddam |
| Created by | "Mouchette"(pseudonym) for Martine Neddam |
| URL | mouchette |
| Launched | 1996 |
| Current status | Active |
Mouchette.org is an interactive website and Internet art piece created in 1996 by artist Martine Neddam under the pseudonym "Mouchette". Mouchette says that she is nearly 13 years old and that she is an artist and poet living with her family in Amsterdam. The site explores themes of sex, death, and violence. Neddam kept her identity secret for many years before coming forward as its author in 2010.[1][2]
Mouchette is loosely based on a 1937 book by Georges Bernanos and the 1967 Robert Bresson movie. The storyline is about a French teenager who commits suicide after she is raped. An online quiz comparing the "Neo-Mouchette"[3] to the movie angered Bresson's widow, so she threatened a lawsuit against the artist behind the project. The quiz was taken down after that incident.[4][5][6] It is currently available and is hosted by other websites as a protest against abusive copyright laws.[5][7]
Apart from being a taboo subject, the manipulation of cyber identity and the Neddam's ability to maintain anonymity for so long are the significant reasons why this website has garnered an "international reputation",[4] especially in the Internet art community.[6]
Summary and themes
My name is Mouchette
I live in Amsterdam
I am nearly 13 years old
I am an artist...
This "deceptively innocent"[4] introduction, which appears next to a portrait of a "sad eyed"[3] adolescent girl on the main page with a floral background, is in stark contrast to the complexity of the rest of the site.
The webpage consists of interactive texts, secret links, and "poems that reveal the multiple faces of the artist, along with her fears and obsessions."[8] The whole impression is that it is a work of a more mature person than a 13-year-old girl.[4]
Suicide, death, and violence
Just like the film Mouchette, one of the themes running throughout Mouchette.org is the idea of death. The recurring image of a fly is present on many of the pages. The word "mouchette" translates into English as "little fly." Comparable lives of the Mouchettes – the fly and the girl – intersect when they revolve around the fly's death.
As stated in the Internet Art book, "in early iterations of the site, the virtual persona Mouchette was obsessed with suicide."[3]
Sex
"Sexually suggestive" themes are present throughout the site.[4] Many of the site's have interactive web forms that include multiple-choice questions asking your email address. Days or weeks later, the viewer might get unexpected flirtatious email messages from Mouchette.[4]
Manipulating identity
Visitors are allowed to "become Mouchette" when they become members of the "Mouchette Network." Members can "create true Mouchette webpages" and are given "a unique opportunity to become a great artist."[9]
The interactive questionnaires often will ask you to post your name and email address if you answer one of the questions. But the anonymity of the creator and the unsettling topics make a participant wonder how seriously they should answer the questions, including a question about their name and identity.[8]
The website's exploration of the manipulation of identity has been compared to the conceptual photographer Cindy Sherman.[4]
Criticism and controversy
With its taboo subject matter, Mouchette.org has "provoked heated reaction" in the art community.[4]
In an early version of Mouchette.org, a quiz compared web persona Mouchette and the lead character in Bresson's film Mouchette. Images taken from the film were used in this quiz. In 2002, the Bresson estate threatened legal action against the Mouchette.org author.[4] Subsequently, the French Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers banned the content.[10]
According to academic Toni Sant from Salford University, "this copyright issue raises the question of ownership over fictional identities...and raises issues of originality and ownership." Nevertheless, the censorship case increased interest in the Mouchette.org project.[6]
After the quiz was removed from Mouchette.org, other websites hosted copies as a protest. The quiz source code distributor blamed the heirs for censoring the work that was a de facto homage to Bresson's movie.[11]
References
- ^ Connor, Michael (2016-12-12). "A Girl Made of Language: Martine Neddam's Mouchette". Rhizome. Retrieved 2025-02-15.
- ^ Dekker, Annet (2014-01-01). "Assembling traces, or the conservation of net art". NECSUS. European Journal of Media Studies. 3 (1): 171–193. doi:10.5117/NECSUS2014.1.DEKK.
- ^ a b c Green, Rachel (2004). Internet Art. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd. pp. 115. ISBN 0-500-20376-8.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Tribe, Mark; Jana, Reena (2007). "Mouchette". New Media Art. Germany: Taschen. pp. 66–67. ISBN 978-3-8228-3041-3. Archived from the original on 2013-10-05.
- ^ a b "SACD letter". Mouchette.org. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
- ^ a b c Mouchette; Santorineos, Manthos; Sant, Toni (2005-06-01). "Rape, Murder and Suicide Are Easier When You Use a Keyboard Shortcut: Mouchette, an On-Line Virtual Character". Leonardo. 38 (3): 202–206. doi:10.1162/0024094054028921. ISSN 0024-094X.
- ^ "||| My Quiz |||". computerfinearts.com. Retrieved 2022-08-20.
- ^ a b "Mouchette: "Interactivity and Accountability"". Retrieved 2008-05-01.
- ^ "Mouchette.org: Become Mouchette". Retrieved 2008-04-29.
- ^ "Mouchette || Censored". drivedrive.com. Retrieved 2022-08-20.
- ^ "Mouchette.org: "Censored"". Retrieved 2008-04-28.