Avatars are increasingly a part of the digital landscape. How do they (or don’t they) describe the person behind the screen? The PlayTime avatar interactive and game explores just this.
Several of the PlayTime artists—Nick Cave, Paul McCarthy, Angela Washko, Gwen Smith—dress up and disguise themselves or their subjects to explore identity, gender, and environment in order to move fluidly between analog and digital environments. Inspired by how they try on different selves, the avatar interactive and game—available to visitors in the PlayTime exhibition and now online—offers players the opportunity to design their own avatar and to consider how people represent themselves digitally versus in real life.
What’s your avatar? Try the interactive web game on desktop now. Content is generally suitable for all ages.
(Team credits: Commissioned by the Peabody Essex Museum for PlayTime. Game design by Kellian Adams, Green Door Labs. Art by Dirk Tiede, UI design by Vibhuti Giltrap, coding by Andy Hall, Test Tube Games.)
