Robbie Cooper (born 1969) is a British artist working in various media, including photography, video and video game modifications. He was educated in

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and the UK, before studying media production at

Bournemouth College of Art Arts University Bournemouth (abbreviated AUB) is a further and higher education university based in Poole, England, specialising in art, performance, design, and media. It was formerly known as The Arts University College at Bournemouth a ...

. In 2002 Cooper embarked on Alter Ego, a long-term project that explored

virtual online worlds A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activitie ...

and the identities people create within them. His Alter Ego photographs have been exhibited internationally and were published as a book in 2007. Each portrait includes text written by the subject that records their online experiences. In 2008 Cooper began the Immersion project, in which he records the expressions of people watching TV, playing video games and using the internet. "Cooper's work creates a dual feedback: the players react intensely to the images they see on the screen, whereas we - the observers - react with our own feelings to their powerfully emotional facial expressions that to us, in turn, are just another image on a screen". The project captures people of all ages immersed in digital media. Media used in the Immersion project include video games, pornography, children's cartoons, comedy, atrocity videos, sports, horror and music videos.

Immersion technique

The technique used by Robbie Cooper for Immersion is inspired by a method developed by documentary filmmaker

Errol Morris Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of its subjects. In 2003, his documentary film '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamar ...

. Known as the Interrotron method, Morris used the process to interview people directly through the camera lens. A modified autocue, the Interrotron uses a

one-way mirror A one-way mirror, also called two-way mirror (or one-way glass, half-silvered mirror, and semi-transparent mirror), is a reciprocal mirror that appears reflective on one side and transparent at the other. The perception of one-way transmission ...

to reflect an image towards the viewer whilst they gaze into the camera. Morris connected a live video feed of himself into the Interrotron so he could ask questions and the interviewee could retain direct eye contact with him, whilst expressing themselves straight to the camera and the audience. Cooper adapted this approach, plugging video games consoles and computers into the autocue, as well as creating a studio environment which he has described as an "anti-shoot", in which the attention of subjects is diverted away from the purpose of the activity. In 2011 Cooper worked as a consultant on the

Godfrey Reggio Godfrey Reggio (born March 29, 1940) is an American director of experimental documentary films. Life Reggio was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to an old and distinguished Louisiana family descended from Francesco M. de Reggio, an Italian noblem ...

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...

movie "

Visitors Visitor, in English and Welsh law, is an academic or ecclesiastical title. Visitor or Visitors may also refer to: Geography * Visitor (mountain), a mountain in eastern Montenegro * Lake Visitor, a mountain lake in eastern Montenegro Literature * ...

", which used the technique extensively.Cinedigm
"Visitors Official Launch Trailer"
2013

Publications

''Alter Ego: Avatars and their Creators''. London:

Chris Boot Chris Boot (born 27 May 1960) is a British photography curator, book publisher, and has worked in a variety of other roles related to photography. He was director of London’s Photo Co-op, director of the London and New York offices of Magnum Ph ...

. 2007.

Exhibitions

1. National Science and Media Museum, UK
"Immersion", Robbie Cooper
2010. 2. Centro Di Cultura Contemporanea, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy. "Virtual Identities" 2011. 3. Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria.
"Role Models - Role Playing"
2011. 4. Maison D'Ailleurs, Switzerland
"Playtime, Video Game Mythologies"
2012. 5. Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria

2012. 6. Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow
"Playtime, Video Game Mythologies"
2013. 7. The Ansembourg Museum, Liège, Belgium. BIP 9th International Biennial Of Photography And Visual Art
"Mirages"
2014. 8. Galleria Giovanni Bonelli, Milan, Italy. Prosecco e Pop Cor

2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Robbie British photographers Living people British video game programmers 1969 births Alumni of Arts University Bournemouth