may 23, 2017 –
People Still Fall in Love on the Internet
REMEMBERING SKINONSKINONSKIN
By Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn
This essay accompanies the presentation of Entropy8Zuper!’s skinonskinonskin (1999) as part of the online exhibition Net Art Anthology.
On [15/05/2017, 12:56:12] as we sat in the same room together in our studio in Gent, we met on Skype to chat about our very first project together, skinonskinonskin. This website was a bundle of HTML coded love letters Michaël and I sent to one another in the days and weeks after we first met online. Tasked with writing an essay for Rhizome about this work, we found it difficult to be rational about something we had never been. In 1999 when we first decided to show the work publicly we did so as a pay-per-view, perhaps one of the first examples of net art released in such a way. We did so to protect its content and insure that anyone who wanted to access our private world, ''really'' wanted to do so. This was no casual sex, it is a document of two people deciding to make what was either the best or worst decision of their entire lives. It revealed our darkest natures and our most beautiful selves.
15/05/2017, 12:56:12
michaël
Are you here?
15/05/2017, 12:56:20
auriea
yes
15/05/2017, 12:56:32
michaël
Why?
15/05/2017, 12:56:49
auriea
i am always here
15/05/2017, 12:57:14
auriea
index.html
15/05/2017, 12:57:17
michaël
(F) They didn't have emojis in 1999, did they?
15/05/2017, 12:57:37
auriea
no. and i wonder what we would have made of them.
15/05/2017, 12:58:23
michaël
We probably wouldn't have felt nearly as comfortable talking through a corporate network as we are doing now.
15/05/2017, 12:59:09
michaël
The internet used to feel so intimate.
15/05/2017, 13:00:03
auriea
i am looking at the code of skinonskinonskin
15/05/2017, 13:00:34
auriea
it was significant to us that people look at it. that they read the codes behind the pages
15/05/2017, 13:00:36
michaël
I guess Skinonskinonskin could still be made now.
15/05/2017, 13:01:06
auriea
but i don't think it would be. we seemed to make it out of necessity. considering we didn't know each other at all at the start of it.
15/05/2017, 13:01:26
michaël
We needed a way to communicate other than text chat back then too.
15/05/2017, 13:01:31
michaël
For different reasons.
15/05/2017, 13:02:04
michaël
I don't think data harvesters can make any sense of Skinonskinonskin.
15/05/2017, 13:02:16
auriea
i'd like to see them try.
15/05/2017, 13:02:22
michaël
We should teach the terrorists to use art for communication.
15/05/2017, 13:02:54
michaël
(assuming that this is why we are being watched)
15/05/2017, 13:03:20
michaël
Hm. Privacy is kind of important in a love affair, isn't it?
15/05/2017, 13:03:28
auriea
always watching… for the wrong reasons
15/05/2017, 13:03:56
auriea
i remember we hid these pages away while we made them
15/05/2017, 13:04:37
auriea
i remember first of all that we had a private chat room and the next day a private folder on hell.com
15/05/2017, 13:05:23
auriea
but the secret folder was discovered. i wasn't sure how to feel once others knew what we were making.
15/05/2017, 13:05:35
michaël
I wonder how people fall in love on the internet nowadays.
15/05/2017, 13:06:36
auriea
do they? they must! but this was different even then. the morning after the first time we met in chat you sent me the first page of skinonskinonskin.
15/05/2017, 13:06:44
auriea
i fell in love immediately.
15/05/2017, 13:06:58
auriea
immediately
15/05/2017, 13:07:10
auriea
maintenant
15/05/2017, 13:07:28
michaël
We presented ourselves differently back then.
15/05/2017, 13:07:49
michaël
To some extent we fell in love with each other's creation of a persona.
15/05/2017, 13:08:02
michaël
In a way that is more than with a person.
15/05/2017, 13:08:16
michaël
It's a combination of being and doing.
15/05/2017, 13:08:24
michaël
Not just being.
15/05/2017, 13:08:43
michaël
So our love involved work right from the start.
15/05/2017, 13:10:00
auriea
it was not something we even needed to think about.
15/05/2017, 13:10:05
auriea
work was not work
15/05/2017, 13:10:21
auriea
whispers = new Array();
15/05/2017, 13:10:33
michaël
Being on the internet required doing, creating.
15/05/2017, 13:11:17
auriea
and persona was wrapped up in the code we made…
15/05/2017, 13:11:31
michaël
But how certain could we be that the love we created was real?
15/05/2017, 13:11:52
michaël
Maybe it was just an aesthetic game, a story we created together.
15/05/2017, 13:12:00
auriea
if ( 1 + 1 == 1 ) { e8z = true; };
15/05/2017, 13:12:02
michaël
Did we make the story real?
15/05/2017, 13:12:23
michaël
Skinonskinonskin does document a lot of the doubt we had.
15/05/2017, 13:12:32
michaël
But I guess we never doubted our love.
15/05/2017, 13:12:41
michaël
Just what we were willing to do for it.
15/05/2017, 13:14:30
auriea
what we did: we met in hell.com. we met many other hell.com members in a video chat one night and ended up in a private room. we woke up the next morning, confused, elated and unashamed, wondering how that happened. you sent me breath.html
15/05/2017, 13:14:49
auriea
an interface was built. connections made.
15/05/2017, 13:14:56
auriea
http://entropy8zuper.org
15/05/2017, 13:15:06
auriea
http://entropy8zuper.org/underyourdesk
15/05/2017, 13:15:19
michaël
Haha. Yes. I remember not knowing exactly what had happened. It wasn't until later that I realized that we had had sex.
15/05/2017, 13:15:25
michaël
On a first date!
15/05/2017, 13:15:26
auriea
http://entropy8zuper.org/godlove
15/05/2017, 13:15:31
michaël
That wasn't even a date.
15/05/2017, 13:15:45
auriea
it was meant to be a one night stand.
15/05/2017, 13:15:52
auriea
… 18 years later
15/05/2017, 13:16:43
auriea
but our code if ( 1 + 1 == 1 ) { e8z = true; }; the code inscribed on the inside of our wedding rings. it was on the front page of hell.com so long everyone thought hell.com was us.
15/05/2017, 13:17:01
auriea
that was a funny misunderstanding.
15/05/2017, 13:17:43
auriea
but to show skinonskinonskin after it was discovered, a pay-per-view was the only way.
15/05/2017, 13:18:14
michaël
We even made money with that. Despite that not being the reason for doing it.
15/05/2017, 13:18:45
auriea
haha yeah
15/05/2017, 13:19:19
michaël
When was Skinonskinonskin open to the public on hell.com? Was this after you had already moved to Belgium?
15/05/2017, 13:20:00
auriea
yes i was already here. (i moved to be with you very very quickly)
15/05/2017, 13:20:27
michaël
Wikipedia says September 1999.
15/05/2017, 13:20:41
michaël
You moved in May.
15/05/2017, 13:21:00
michaël
4 Months after we met in hell.
15/05/2017, 13:22:00
auriea
what happened was that we started our site together the day we first met each other in person, that was in San Francisco, probably March 1999. what happened was that skinonskinonskin became the first public presentation on hell.com. what happened was that I moved to Belgium 4 months after we met in hell.
15/05/2017, 13:22:57
auriea
timelines are confusing. is there time in cyberspace?
15/05/2017, 13:23:07
auriea
function startNow()
15/05/2017, 13:23:19
michaël
Very fast time, apparently.
15/05/2017, 13:23:37
michaël
You broke off a relationship of 4 years and moved to another continent.
15/05/2017, 13:23:54
michaël
I left my very young children and their mother.
15/05/2017, 13:24:09
michaël
We were monsters.
15/05/2017, 13:24:22
auriea
it felt that way.
15/05/2017, 13:24:31
auriea
and perhaps we were.
15/05/2017, 13:24:35
auriea
are.
15/05/2017, 13:24:49
michaël
We were very selfish.
15/05/2017, 13:25:14
michaël
But I felt more me with you than before.
15/05/2017, 13:25:50
auriea
happiness was in us. we just needed to find it.
15/05/2017, 13:25:56
michaël
I finally felt "me" enough to even be able to be selfish.
15/05/2017, 13:26:21
auriea
skinonskinonskin was us alternately trying to talk each other into and out of the love affair.
15/05/2017, 13:26:28
michaël
I was afraid I was going to wither without you.
15/05/2017, 13:26:39
michaël
I remember we tried just working together.
15/05/2017, 13:27:08
michaël
We like creating things and felt we complemented each other.
15/05/2017, 13:27:49
auriea
right. but i was gone… i mean, the sky itself told me i had to come to you. the clouds laughed when i said i wanted to stay as i was. the wind didn't believe me for a second.
15/05/2017, 13:28:04
michaël
The thing that I remember most is your burnt plane ticket.
15/05/2017, 13:28:28
michaël
Such determination not to come to Belgium!
15/05/2017, 13:28:31
auriea
that was a typical dramatic gesture. smoke.
15/05/2017, 13:28:36
michaël
Flames!
15/05/2017, 13:28:58
michaël
So much money!
15/05/2017, 13:29:01
auriea
the whole thing was so amazing. so banal.
15/05/2017, 13:29:04
michaël
Burnt.
15/05/2017, 13:29:38
auriea
that was the funny thing. it was at once Opera and Jerry Springer.
15/05/2017, 13:29:42
michaël
Somebody should make a romcom about Skinonskinonskin.
15/05/2017, 13:29:48
auriea
yes!
15/05/2017, 13:30:00
michaël
It has a happy ending, after all.
15/05/2017, 13:31:07
auriea
i can look back on the situation fondly and be almost embarrassed. or i can find myself with tears in my eyes and feel that love for you all over again, the kind that keeps planets in orbit! and then i go to the kitchen and make tea.
15/05/2017, 13:31:39
michaël
So you only feel that way on the days you make tea?
15/05/2017, 13:31:51
auriea
hahaah
15/05/2017, 13:31:55
auriea
that is the outcome of our DHTML conversation. and ultimately the meaning of art to me.
15/05/2017, 13:33:46
auriea
laughing! crying! extraordinary! but ultimately blending into the world… the beauty of love and pain enhancing something as simple as making tea for your lover.
15/05/2017, 13:34:17
auriea
i see how making that work bound us together.
15/05/2017, 13:34:31
auriea
and i am thankful for it
15/05/2017, 13:34:32
michaël
So we coded our love?
15/05/2017, 13:34:40
auriea
absolutely!
15/05/2017, 13:34:48
auriea
return true;
15/05/2017, 13:34:48
michaël
That explains the bugs!
15/05/2017, 13:35:29
auriea
maybe we can discuss some of the pages?
15/05/2017, 13:35:55
michaël
The ones that still work?
15/05/2017, 13:36:06
auriea
they will all work once rhizome restores them
15/05/2017, 13:36:26
auriea
which is your favorite?
15/05/2017, 13:36:36
auriea
or which do you remember most
15/05/2017, 13:38:27
michaël
Apart from "temptation" with the burnt plane ticket, I've always though "but" summarized the situation quite well.
15/05/2017, 13:38:55
auriea
that one stung me. a lot! i was completely hurt.
15/05/2017, 13:39:42
michaël
But yeah, your "control" is probably my favorite. That's why I imitated it, I guess. So seductive! So bad.
15/05/2017, 13:40:00
auriea
that one and unsent.gif
15/05/2017, 13:40:07
auriea
though i understood.
15/05/2017, 13:40:28
michaël
And I can't look at "missing" without feeling a pang of the old lovepain/painlove.
15/05/2017, 13:40:41
auriea
yes. your response to control was so perfect. all that melting snow.
15/05/2017, 13:41:11
auriea
"sticking" and "future" make me cry every time.
15/05/2017, 13:42:56
michaël
And "freezing" with the little "Z" under your finger. As if I was your little secret that you guarded tenderly.
15/05/2017, 13:43:24
michaël
I used "Z" as my name back then. And your name started with A. Alpha and Omega. We were destined to be. Moon and sun.
15/05/2017, 13:44:05
michaël
I was such a slut back then.
15/05/2017, 13:44:12
auriea
and half of skinonskinonskin was made before we met in person and the other half after. i'd almost forgotten.
15/05/2017, 13:44:24
auriea
slut
15/05/2017, 13:44:45
michaël
Yeah, we continued for a while.
15/05/2017, 13:44:49
auriea
so there is one page where you were looking for our first apartment
15/05/2017, 13:45:01
auriea
ourhome.html
15/05/2017, 13:45:13
michaël
When our relationship was difficult, Skinonskinonskin provided a refuge.
15/05/2017, 13:46:00
michaël
I guess Skinonskinonskin was continued in Wirefire.
15/05/2017, 13:47:17
auriea
yes and Wirefire was where we recycled all the emotions, graphics and sounds. of our love, our new life, and work together
15/05/2017, 13:47:33
michaël
Me in my pyjama bottoms in the early morning in the former factory where I lived. "come"
15/05/2017, 13:48:03
auriea
"technical" seemed like an anthem
15/05/2017, 13:49:39
michaël
We were connected through the wires. The network felt warm and intimate to us.
15/05/2017, 13:49:59
auriea
now that i think of it… a bunt plane ticket would mean nothing today.
15/05/2017, 13:50:24
michaël
It's been almost two decades.
15/05/2017, 13:50:27
auriea
and now everyone is always on… there is no disconnecting.
15/05/2017, 13:50:46
auriea
we would always sign off with "Disconnect only the software."
15/05/2017, 13:51:00
auriea
((geeks))
15/05/2017, 13:51:42
michaël
Oddly, to some extent that was a dream of ours. See "entropy8zuper2": Connection: Keep-Alive
15/05/2017, 13:51:54
auriea
so how shall we sign off now?
15/05/2017, 13:52:10
michaël
Some of our dreams have turned into nightmares. Or banal realities.
15/05/2017, 13:53:11
michaël
We can sign off with: How do we save this conversation to a file in this bloody Skype interface?
15/05/2017, 13:53:19
auriea
LOL
15/05/2017, 13:53:39
auriea
select all, copy/paste - it was ever thus <3
15/05/2017, 13:53:58
michaël
Your computer is superior.
15/05/2017, 13:54:27
michaël
I have to stop looking at Skinonskinonskin now. It's so painfully real.
15/05/2017, 13:54:49
michaël
I wonder how much other people get from it.
15/05/2017, 13:55:02
michaël
I guess love is universal.
15/05/2017, 13:55:35
auriea
it's like that. and i too wonder if it works that way for anyone else. especially now, out of the context of that time when such a communication made sense.
15/05/2017, 13:56:08
michaël
It still rains on Sundays.
15/05/2017, 13:56:21
michaël
People still live on different continents.
15/05/2017, 13:56:26
auriea
i like to think of it, but looking at it is hard. though i am excited to see it restored and working properly again after all.
15/05/2017, 13:56:40
auriea
it still rains on sundays.
15/05/2017, 13:56:52
auriea
people still fall in love on the internet.
15/05/2017, 13:56:59
auriea
we are still here.
15/05/2017, 13:57:27
michaël
People still have relationships and children with people who are not "the one".
15/05/2017, 13:57:55
michaël
Some of them abandon everything.
15/05/2017, 13:58:02
michaël
To be together.
15/05/2017, 13:58:08
auriea
rnd.today=new Date(); rnd.seed=rnd.today.getTime();
This chat took place on Skype between Michaël Samyn and Auriea Harvey on May 15, 2017. The layout is based on a custom design by Dragan Espenschied.