Etoy is a European digital art group formed in 1994. It has won several international awards including the
Prix Ars Electronica
The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria).
...
in 1996. Their main slogan is: "leaving reality behind."
Etoy has routinely experimented with the boundaries of
art, such as selling shares of "stock" in the etoy.corporation, a registered company in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and travelling the world as well as living in "etoy.tanks" (
cargo containers).
History
The group first used the name "etoy" in 1994, for performances at
rave
A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
s and techno music events.
The group's members, based in various European countries, were referred to as "agents".
In 2007, German and Swiss director
Andrea Reiter
Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrey, Andrej and Andrew.
Origin of the name
The name derives from the Greek language, Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός ...
realised a documentary (produced by
Hugofilm) about etoy's "Mission Eternity" project, a "digital cult of the dead".
As of 2015, a history overview on the group's website describes it as entering "hibernation mode" in 2013.
Toywar
The ''toywar'' was a legal battle around 1999/2000 between the Internet toy retailer
eToys.com and etoy about the
domain name etoy.com. Fearing brand dilution and customer confusion about the similar domain names, eToys sued etoy for trademark infringement, and asked etoy to remove graphic images and profane language from their website that were bringing customer complaints. The artists refused to comply, and eToys eventually obtained a preliminary injunction against etoy which shut down their website. etoy fought back with a coordinated public relations campaign and Internet-based denial of service attacks on eToys.com. After several weeks eToys dropped the lawsuit and the etoy website returned to operation.
etoy activists have called it "the most expensive performance in art history".
Toywar.Com
/ref> The story is one of the subjects of the documentary film, '' info wars''.
An email campaign was led by Internet activists including etoy agents developing the toywar website.
A book about the story of the etoy corporation, ''Leaving reality behind'', by Regula Bochsler Regula may refer to:
* Regula (name)
* Regula (architecture), a feature of the Doric order in classical architecture
* Regula (saint), a Coptic Orthodox and Roman Catholic saint
* Regula (ship, 1993), a passenger ship operating on Lake Zurich in Sw ...
and Adam Wishart was released in 2002.
References
External links
website etoy.CORPORATIONthe digital hijackthe digital flapjack
- a parody of ''digital hijack'' created at the 1996 Prix Ars Electronica by SITO
New York Times - EToys Lawsuit Is No Fun for Artist Group
* ttps://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/01/cyber/articles/26etoy.html New York Times - eToys Drops Lawsuit Against Artist Groupbr>Pam Dixon archive - Cyber artists' toy war is not child's play
{{Authority control
European artist groups and collectives
Advocacy groups
Culture jamming