Kikas Babenco and Marmaduke Arado are the avatars of a real life Portuguese couple, Luís Fontes and Bárbara Teixeira, with also share a background in publishing, graphic design and multimedia.

 

Virtual worlds being a new artistic medium, Kikas and Marmaduke enjoy exploring their unique creative possibilities, namely by contesting the common idea that virtual reality should reproduce the physical world.

 

With this in mind, Kikas and Marmaduke stage performances that transform the virtual space around them, suggesting an ever-changing reality where several dimensions coexist. These performances are largely improvised and can take place anywhere at any time, because Kikas and Marmaduke are “wearers”, i.e., the elements of their performances are not attached to the virtual world but are worn by their avatars as if they were clothing.

 

Yet another aspect of Kikas and Marmaduke’s work is that those attending their performances are encouraged to participate and become co-creators of those events, instead of just being part of a passive audience, To this end Kikas and Marmaduke make available wearable elements to be freely used by participants in their performances.

 

In Second Life, Kikas and Marmaduke also developed a comedy show, “The Extraordinary Adventures of Kikas and Marmaduke”, in which their avatars stage scenes from an imaginary 3D comic book of which they are the protagonists.

 

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The installation “I love art” in the Museo del Metaverso is an exploration of Kikas and Marmaduke’s concept of “instant scene”, an artwork that only comes into existence when an avatar, after clicking on an object, makes that artwork visible by becoming an integral part of it (additionally, and like with most of what they do, Kikas and Marmaduke hope that a laugh will come out of this experience!).