i hate mouchette because

kelly boyle: i hate mouchette because

Mouchette.org is a website that claims to have been created by a twelve year old girl in Amsterdam.  The homepage consists of a titled floral wallpaper, a brief checklist biography and a dropmenu of links.  The viewer plays an intregal role in discovering more about the character of Mouchette.  Through clicking on the many links offered, you will find things such as Mouchette asking for feedback on the taste of her tongue, a kit to aid in her suicide, a search for shells in the dark and an invitation to her many last birthday parties.  In the nonlinear and often illogical presentation of Mouchette’s story, the piece greatly recalls Dada’s value of irrationality over rationality.  Through creating a narrative that the viewer partially has to create on their own, Mouchette.org begs for audience participation and in reality cannot exist without it.  If you click on the link Trademark, Mouchette is asking for support in trademarking her name to keep sites like ihatemouchette.org.  This site consists of one simple page in which the viewer is asked to tell why they hate Mouchette.  This satirical attack on the concept of an ownership of information (or even a name) causes one to believe that ihatemouchette was created by the same anonymous figure that created Mouchette herself.  In a work like Mouchette.org, the viewer learns to trust nothing, question everything, and search in potential emptiness for some potential depth and purpose.  In my mind, this represents a successful dada/fluxus/newmedia/conceptual artwork, for the artist is asking the viewer to question the notion that there is truth and reason in a chaotic and possibly meaningless piece, which parallels the desire to instill the same outlook on our existence and world.