Katharine Wimett
Katharine Wimett
Client | Research

Three-Ninety-Five

Three-Ninety-Five

May 1 – September 1
U-Bahnhof Eisenacher Straße, Berlin, Germany

Three-Ninety-Five Three-Ninety-Five

2024
Vinyl, paint, wood, wire, tumbleweed
2 × 1.5 × .5 meters (6.5 × 4.9 × 1.6 feet)
Collaboration with Shu-Hua Chang
Video by Milan Daegan
Photography by Joanna Wilk

Camgirl.com: Women Creating Space for Themselves Online

Webcam Model, Camwoman, camgirl.com Webcam Model, Camwoman, camgirl.com

Visit the thesis website

In 1996, Jennifer Ringley began live streaming images from her bedroom under the name JenniCam. Ringley’s live broadcast was groundbreaking, as the first person to be live online for a continuous amount of time. In turn, Ringley inspired a trend of young women to broadcast their lives online 24/7, they were known as camgirls. Commercialization created a profession from the camgirl trend and now she is referred to as a webcam model. These are female performers who sell exotic dances and masturbation shows to online customers.

My bachelor’s thesis, tracks this phenomenon and timeline. Focusing on online practices, steps towards commercialization and manufactured illusions of the present. I also bring into the camgirl timeline current women artists who use Instagram to “broadcast” their lives and who are consistently included in the conversation of female digital identity within the art world.

Examining camming from the nineties to today, I attempt to simultaneously reflect on contemporary feminism, addressing issues that arise at the intersection of emancipation, choice, capitalism and the World Wide Web.

Webcam Model, Camwoman, camgirl.com Webcam Model, Camwoman, camgirl.com

The thesis has been designed as a website. Full of hyperlinks to sources as well as video and audio content. I want to offer readers the chance to experience the references for themselves. Readers are also invited to become a part of the text, joining the thesis means allowing access to the front camera of your mobile device or laptop. Your image placed in the corner of the text.

2018–2019
Research, writing, and website design (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
Nova typeface by Kai Udema

Camgirl Waiting (Tables of Content exhibition)

Camgirl Waiting Camgirl Waiting Camgirl Waiting Camgirl Waiting Camgirl Waiting Camgirl Waiting Camgirl Waiting Camgirl Waiting Camgirl Waiting Camgirl Waiting

2019
Research, installation design, and book design
Music by Satchel Henneman

nettime updated

In 2000, an interview between Dutch graduate student, Petra Heck and German historian and writer Tilman Baumgärtel was published via the nettime mailing list. The interview focused on net art and its place within art museums as well as questioning preservation of digital works.

Eighteen years later, in reading Heck’s questions to Baumgärtel I found myself generating new questions. Using Google Doc as a method of overlaying my questions and comments I asked Heck and Baumgärtal to revisit the interview, they both graciously agreed.

I created a small zine combining the original interview with the new one, subtly blending the two together.

5” × 12”
risograph printed
pamphlet stitch

2018
Research, interview, and zine design

BedSheet

Reconstruction of my childhood bedroom using screenshots from FaceTime conversations.

2017
Collaged screenshots printed on cotton fabric

The Handbag Emoji

The Handbag Emoji

The Handbag Emoji

2018
Research, scripting, and video making