Virus and the Avata - Kate Cooper Interview

Cooper’s work centers on the body as a contested space of communication and representation. Utilizing cutting-edge computer-generated technologies and post-production methods to render and remodel images of the body, Cooper’s photo-realistic characters act as both objects and vessels through which to explore ideas of gender, technology and the politics of labour. Challenging the cosmetically ‘perfect’ conventions of the digital body in films, video games, or advertising, Cooper’s figure becomes tired and sick, bleeds and bruises. As harbingers of affect, the liminal bodies become tools with which to unpick contemporary modes of labour and negotiate our own understanding of the effects of capitalism on our physical selves.