< description / process

WATAG~editor is a collaboration between Perth and Melbourne in which taggers from Perth come in and tag a virtual train station, modelled as a simulation of a real Melbourne station.

Perth taggers create tags. These are photographed and sent to us in Melbourne.
Meanwhile in Melbourne we use Level-Editing technology to model a simulation of a recognizable Melbourne train station, eg: Richmond or The MCG, complete with virtual commuters.
We receive the photographs from Perth and then configure these tags for use within our environment using the Level-Editing program. This allows the player to control a first-person shooter-style virtual hand which roams around and tags areas of the train station at will. The effect from the player's perspective is control of a hand holding a spraycan, which on a mouse command, can spray your tag of choice onto any part of the train station. This includes a few tricky-to-reach places for the more daring, at the risk of being flattened by the oncoming train! However, tags can only be applied from Perth.

Two sets of computers will be set up online - one set in Perth and one in Melbourne. The Melbourne audience can wander round the train station encountering Perth taggers applying tags to a Melbourne site but cannot apply tags themselves.
A simultaneous opening will be organized in which taggers apply the tags, watched (virtually to maintain the surreptitious nature of tagging!), by audiences both in Perth and Melbourne. After this, for the duration of the exhibition, gallery-goers can sit at computers located in the gallery and walk around the virtual space looking at the tags, encountering artifically intelligent commuters and listening out for the train.